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Chicago   Historical  Society's   Collection. — Vol.   I. 


HISTORY 


OF   THE 


Englisli  Settlement  in  Edwards  County 

ILLINOIS, 
Founded  in  1817  and  18 18,  by 

MORRIS  BIRKBECK  A\'D  GEORGE  FLOWER. 

BY 

GEORGE   FLOWER. 


WITH    PREFACE   AND    FOOT-NOTES 

BY 

E.  B.  WASH  BURN  E, 

Member  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society;    Honorary  Member  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts AND  Virginia   Historical   Societies;   Corresponding 
Member  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society; 
author  of  the 
"Sketch  of  Edward  Coles,  and  the  Slavery  Struggle  in  Illinois  in  1823-4." 

etc.,  etc. 


CHICAGO: 
FERGUS    PRINTING   COMPANY. 

1882. 


977.3791 


CONTENTS. 


Introductory, 
Preface, 


CHAPTER    I. 


Prefatory  Remarks  The  Founders  of  the  Enghsh  Colony  in  Illinois, 
Morris  Birkbeck  and  George  Flower  Sketch  of  Morris  Birkbeck 
— His  Father  a  Quaker  His  Education  and  Early  Life  in  Eng- 
land— Travels  of  Birkbeck  and  Flower  through  France  -Edward 
Coles  visits  Mr.  Birkbeck  and  Family  at  Wanborough,  England 
— Coles  afterward  becomes  Governor  of  Illinois,  and  Birkbeck 
his  Secretary-of-State  Characteristics  of  Birkbeck  Embarks  for 
the  United  States  in  April,  1817  —  Richard  Flower,  father  of 
George  Flower  Reflections  on  the  United  States — George  Flower 
in  the  United  States  a  year  before  Birkbeck.  -  -  17 

CHAPTE  R    II. 

Mr.  Flower  sails  for  America  —  Reflections  on  the  Voyage — Arrives 
in  New  York  and  visits  Philadelphia — Invited  to  Monticello  by 
Mr.  Jefferson — Journey  Westward  Visits  Dr.  Priestly,  on  the 
Susquehanna  Lost  in  the  Journey  to  Pittsburgh — From  thence 
to  Cincinnati — The  Town  as  he  found  it,  and  the  People  -  The 
Neave  Family-  Crosses  the  Ohio  River  and  visits  Lexington, 
and  also  Gov.  Shelby,  in  Lincoln  County  —  Fording  of  Dick's 
River — Hears  of  the  Illinois  Prairies  for  the  first  time — Visits 
Nashville,  Tenn. — Meets  Gen.  Jackson  at  a  Horse-Race — Return- 
ing East,  visits  Mr.  Jefferson  at  Poplar  Forest,  South-western 
Virginia — Description  of  his  House  and  his  Personal  Appearance, 
Dress,  etc. — Visits  Col.  John  Coles,  father  of  Edward  Coles,  in 
Albemarle  County — Passes  the  \A^inter  with  Mr.  Jefferson  at 
Monticello — At  the  Inauguration  of  Mr.  Monroe,  and  meets  Ed- 
ward Coles  for  the  first  time  Mr.  Birkbeck  and  his  Family 
arrive  at  Richmond,  from  England.  -  -  -  30 


775646 


2  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    III. 

Joins  Mr.  Birkbeck  and  Family  in  Richmond,  Va. —  Miss  Andrews, 
afterward  Mrs.  Flower  Decides  to  go  Westward  from  Richmond 
-  Incidents  of  the  Trip  Meets  with  Mr.  Sloo,  U.  S.  Land-Officer 
at  Shawneetown,  who  conducts  the  Party  to  Illinois — They  stop 
at  Gen.  Harrison's,  at  North  Bend  —  At  Vincennes  — "  Painted 
Warriors,  Bedecked  Squaws,  and  Bedizened  Pappooses"  -  Mr. 
Birkbeck's  Daughters  and  Miss  Andrews  -Difficuities  of  the 
Journey  bravely  met  Mr.  Birkbeck  proposes  Marriage  to  Miss 
Andrews  —Offer  Declined  —  Leads  to  Unpleasant  Results  —  The 
Party  first  Establishes  itself  at  Princeton,  Indiana  A  Visit  to 
the  Shaker  Settlement  at  Busro  Account  of  the  French-Cana- 
dian Settlement  at  Cattinet  —  Birkbeck  and  Flower  start  out  in 
Search  of  the  "Prairies"  Pass  through  New  Harmony,  George 
Rapp's  Colony  Description  of  the  Place  —  Cross  the  W^abash 
and  enter  the  Territory  of  Illinois,  and  reach  the  "  Big-Prairie  " 
Settlement — "  Boltenhouse  Prairie,"  a  Beautiful  Sight — Crossing 
the  Wabash  into  Illinois  Territory — Hard  Ride  to  Birk's  Prairie 
The  Prairie  Flies  —  Captain  Birk,  a  Specimen  Pioneer—  His 
Cabin  and  his  Family  Intense  Prejudice  against  the  British — 
Journey  Continued — Reflections  on  the  Pioneers  —  Long  Prairie 
reached,  where  the  English  Settlement  was  afterward  made  ~ 
Return  to  Princeton  —  Timber-land  around  Boltenhouse  Prairie 
entered  at  Shawneetown  —  Mr.  Birkbeck  to  remain  and  Mr. 
Flower  to  return  to  England  to  procure  more  Funds  and  beat 
up  for  Recruits — The  Decision  made.  -  -  -  47 

CHAPTER    I  \\ 

Fear  of  Speculators  Desire  to  get  a  Grant  of  I,and  from  Congress — 
Mr.  Jefferson  Written  to  on  the  Subject  His  Answer — Letter  of 
Hon.  Nathaniel  Pope-  Reply  of  Mr.  Birkbeck  Mr.  Flower  sets 
out  for  England  -Long  Horseback-Trip  to  Chambersburgh,  Pa., 
Accompanied  by  Mrs.  Flower  The  Outfit  -Incidents  of  the  Jour- 
ney— Mrs.  Flower  Remains  in  Chambersburgh — Mr.  Flower  Sails 
from  New  York  to  Liverpool  -Birkbeck's  Notes  of  Travel — The 
Emigrants.        __.-_-.  75 

CHAPTER    V. 

First  Party  of  Emigrants  Sail  from  Bristol,  in  March,  1818 — Many 
of  Mr.  Birkbeck's  Neighbors  and  Acquaintances  among  them — 
Letter  of  Richard  Birkbeck  Farm  Operatives  in  England  Per- 
sons composing  the  Party     Land  in  Philadelphia,  in  June,   1818 


CONTENTS.  iii 

— Reach  Pittsburgh  and  descend  the  Ohio  River  to  Shawnee- 
town — Arrive  at  Mr.  Birkbeck's  Cabin  on  Boltenhouse  Prairie — 
The  "Barracks"  —  Sufferings  and  Discomforts  of  the  Party — 
"Wan borough  laid  off  by  Mr.  Birkbeck — The  next  Ship -load  of 
Emigrants  sail  in  the  following  Month,  April,  1818 — Mr.  Flower's 
Family  with  this  Party — Other  Persons  composing  it — Mr.  Flower 
Journeys  by  Carriage  from  Philadelphia  to  Chambersburgh  with 
his  Family — The  last  Ship-load  of  Emigrants  proceeding  to  their 
Destination — \A/^ant  of  Harmony — A  Black  Sheep  in  the  Fold — 
Arrival  at  Pittsburgh — Preparations  to  Descend  the  Ohio  River 
— The  Perils  of  the  Voyage — Stop  at  Shawneetown — The  Appear- 
ance of  that  Village — Mr.  Fordham  comes  from  the  "Settlement" 
to  meet  Mr.  Flower  and  Party  at  Shawneetown — His  Account 
of  Mr.  Birkbeck  and  condition  of  Things  at  the  "Settlement" — 
Preparations  to  receive  the  Emigrants — Log -Cabins  and  Hard 
Food — The  first  Meal  on  their  Arrival — The  blessing  of  an  Iron 
Teakettle  No  Greetings  from  the  Settlement — Mr.  Birkbeck  and 
Mr.  Flower  at  Variance — A  short  Dialogue  between  them,  and 
they  never  Speak  to  each  other  afterward — The  Cause  of  the 
Estrangement — First  Experiences — A  Sickly  Season — A  Time  of 
Trial — Labor  and  Self-Sacrifices  of  Mrs.  Flower — A  Noble  and 
True  Woman— The  first  building  of  Cabins  Close  run  for  Pro- 
visions— Settlement  in  Village  Prairie — Emigrants  coming  in — 
Determined  to  lay  out  a  Town — The  spot  Selected — The  Name 
Agreed  upon.  ---.__  gg 

CHAPTER    VI. 

Albion  Founded— Town  Surveyed  and  Laid  Off— First  Double  Cabin 
—  Benjamin  Grutt  —  Albion  a  fixed  Fact  —  The  Log-Cabin  and 
Blacksmith-Shop — Rowdyism — Wan  borough  springs  into  Exis- 
tence in  1818  Efforts  to  obtain  W^ater — Visit  to  Lexington,  Ky. 
— Death  of  William  Flower — Building  in  Albion — Old  Park-House 
— The  Sunday  Dinner— Brick-Kilns — Market-House — New  Roads 
— Brick-Tavern,  built  by  Richard  Flower— Kept  by  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Lewis— The  Mill— The  first  Store-keepers  in  Albion — Other  early 
Settlers  —  Albion  made  the  County-Seat  —  Erection  of  a  Court- 
House  and  Jail  —  Pardon  of  Perry  by  Gov.  Coles  —  Disappoint- 
ment of  the  People  in  not  seeing  him  Hung — Consoling  them- 
selves with  W^hisky  and  a  score  of  Fights— Thirty-nine  Lashes 
for  a  Poor  Frenchman — Hon.  W^illiam  W^ilson.     -  -         127 

CHAPTER    VII. 

Settlers  on  the  Prairies  about  Albion— Death  of  Mrs.  Wood     Other 
I 


IV 


CONTENTS. 


Settlers  Billy  Harris' Wagon  —  Visiting  England — Changes  in 
the  Country  at  large,  but  little  in  the  respective  Villages — An- 
other Ship-load  of  Emigrants  An  Inappropriate  Settler— John 
Tribe  William  Clark  and  Family — William  Hall,  five  Sons,  and 
four  Daughters  -A  Well  Accident — Emigration  for  1820 — Quar- 
rels of  Doctors — Another  Well  Accident — Lawrence  and  Trim- 
mer Return  to  England — Col.  Carter — Further  Settlers  Sketched 
— Francis  Hanks,  Judge  Wattles,  and  Gen.  Pickering — Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Shepherd  -Cowling,  Wood,  Field,  Ellis,  and  others — Old 
Neddy  Coad  —  Accident  to  the  Sons  of  William  Cave  -Small- 
Traders  and   Farmers.  _____         i^^ 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

Religion  in  the  Settlement — Slanders  and  Efforts  to  divert  Emi- 
grants—  First  Religious  Services  —  Mr.  Pell  and  Mr.  Thomas 
Brown  The  Hard-Shell  Baptist  Preacher  ^Jesse  B.  Browne  and 
Judge  Thomas  C.  Browne — The  Campbellites  or  Christian  Church 
— First  Episcopal  Church — Gen.  Pickering  an  Active  Promoter — 
Influence  of  the  Chimes  of  Bells  —  Bishop  Chase  Consecrates 
the  First  Episcopal  Church  of  Albion — William  Curtis  and  his 
Congregation — Backwoodsmen  don't  like  Episcopacy — The  Meth- 
odist Church  Better  Adapts  Itself  to  all  Classes  —  Reflections 
Thereon — A  Methodist  Camp-Meeting  Described — Mr.  Birkbeck 
Unjustly  Assailed — Mr.  Birkbeck's  Letter  on  Religion — Features 
of  the  Country — A  Glowing  Description — The  Calumnies  against 
the  Settlement  Rebutted  by  Mr.  Birkbeck  —  Toleration  of  all 
Religious  Opinions.    --____         iQj 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Consultations  as  to  how  to  Advance  the  Interests  of  the  Settlement 
— The  Backwoodsmen  begin  to  Leave  the  Country — The  Michaels 
Brothers  Moses  Michaels  Elected  to  the  Legislature,  and  a 
"Weak  Brother"  —  Descriptions  of  Moving  Emigrants  —  Two 
Early  Settlers  at  Albion — One  of  them  become  Governor — Eng- 
lish and  Americans  have  Different  W^ays  of  Doing  Things — 
Emigrants  from  Europe  bound  for  Albion,  Land  at  nearly  every 
Port  from  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  —  A  W^elshman 
Rides  on  Horseback  from  Charleston,  S.  C,  to  Albion -British 
Sketches  Recognized  by  Britains  at  Albion  -Cobbett's  Abusive 
Letters  about  the  English  Colony  Cobbett's  Character — Replies 
by  Richard  Flower  and  Morris  Birkbeck  Dr.  Johnson's  Charges 
— Mr.  Fearon's  Book  of  Travels — Adverse  Influences — The  Evil 
Genius  of  Slavery.      ------        183 


A 


CONTENTS.  V 

C  H  A  P  T  E  R    X. 

)nspiracy  against  Liberty — The  Convention  Question — The  Salines 

—  Slaves  to  Work  them  —  How  Slavery  got  a  Foothold  in  Illi- 
nois— Provision  of  the  First  Constitution — Gen.  Willis  Hargrave 

—  System  Adopted  to  Change  the  Constitution  —  The  Project 
Exposed     The  Pro -Slavery  Men  holding  all  the  Offices — ^Judge 

Samuel  D.  Lockwood  an  Exception — Letters  of  "Jonathan  Free-  ,  1 

man"  and  "John  Rifle"— Handbill  "Pro  Bono  PubHco"— Letters  ij  ' 

of  Morris  Birkbeck  — The  Election  takes  Place— Vote  of  Ed- 
wards County  —  Slavery  Men  Active  and  Unscrupulous  —  Gov. 
Coles  and  Mr.  Birkbeck— The  latter  appointed  Secretary-of- State 

by   Gov.   Coles  —  The   Outrages    on    Gov.   Coles    by   the    Slavery  i 

Party  —  Letter  of  Gov.  Coles  to  Mr.  Birkbeck — Honorable  Excep- 
tions among  the  Pro -Slavery  Men,  Judges  Wilson  and  Browne 
— The  Cloven-Foot  Exposed  by  the  "  Shawneetown  Gazette  " — 
The  Death  of  Mr.  Birkbeck  —  Buried  at  New  Harmony,  Ind. — 
His  Memory  to  be  held  in  Respect  and  Gratitude.  -         197 

C  H  A  P  T  E  R    X  I.  '; 

iterest  in  the  Convention  Question — Difference  between  Slaves  and 
Servants— Asperity  and  Bitterness  of  the  Contest — The  English 

Spoke  their  Minds  Freely — Estrangement  of  Friends  —The  Eng-  ' 

lish  Settlement  Persecuted — Outrages  on  Colored  Men — Lawsuit 
in  Albion — Threatening  Letters  from  Kidnapers — Negroes  Kid- 
naped in  Illinois  and  Indiana — The  White-River  Desperadoes — 

Their  Arrest — Persecution  of  the   Colored   Men    in   the    English  ||  { 

Settlement — Mr.  Flower  sends  a  Colony  to   Hayti — Account   of 

Difficulties  Encountered — The  Colony  a  Success  in  Hayti — The  'I 

Settlement  the  Object  of  Detraction  and  Misrepresentation — The 
Fate  attending  Discoverers  of  New  Countries  and   Founders   of 

Colonies — Illustrated   in  the   Case  of  William   Penn — Treatment  , 

of  Mr.  Flower— The  Cause  of  It.      -  -  -  -         257 

CHAPTER    XII. 

[urder  of  Richard  Flower,  son  of  George  Flower — Murderer  Ac- 
quitted— Large  Outlays  for  Food — Relations  between  New  Har- 
mony and  the  English  Settlement — Robert  Owen  Buys  Out  the  1 
Harmonites — New  Harmony  under  Robert  Owen — Men  Eminent  \ 
in  Literature,  Science,  and  Art  Flocked  Around  him — His  Doc- 
trines Promulgated  Spread  far  and  wide — Mr.  Owen's  Ability  as 
a  Conversationist  and  His  Equanimity  of  Temper — His  Address 
to  the  People  of  Albion — Rapp's  Society  at  New  Harmony.       277 


IV 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

The  Emigration  to  the  Settlement  Recommences— The  Character  of 
the  New  Emigrants— The  Crackles  Brothers— Mr.  Joseph  Apple- 
gath — The  Good  Farms  about  Albion — The  Courts  at  Albion — 
Attended  by  Eminent  Men — Judge  Wilson,  Edwin  B.  Webb, 
Col.  Wm.  H.  Davidson,  Gen.  John  M.  Robinson,  John  McLean, 
and  Henry  Eddy  Their  Visits  to  Mr.  Flower— "A  Good  Supper 
and  a  Bowl  of  Punch" — Dreary  Travel  to  Vandalia— Bear-Meat 
and  Venison — An  Enormous  Elk,  the  Patriarch  of  the  Prairies— 
The  V/restling- Match  between  Indians  and  White  Men  —  The 
Indians  "Down"  the  Pale  Faces— Perilous  Ride  from  the  Wabash 
to  Vandalia — Judges  Wilson  and  Lockwood  and  Henry  Eddy  out 
all  Night  in  a  Dreadful  Storm — Horseback  the  only  Mode  of  Con- 
veyance—Its Fatigues  and  Dangers.  _  .  -         287 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

Long  Horseback  Excursions — The  Cabin  Found — Island  Grove — The 
Tempest — A  Horrible  Night — ^John  Ganaway's  Roadside-Cabin — 
A  Good  Breakfast  —  Hugh  Ronalds'  Adventure  —  Narrowly  Es- 
capes Death  —  Long  Journey  by  Wagon  —  The  Delights  of  that 
Mode  of  Travel— Health  and  Spirits  Renewed  —  Travel  of  that 
Day  and  the  Present  Day  Contrasted  —  Mr.  Hulme's  Journey — 
Mr.  Applegath,  Bishop  Whitehouse,  and  Mr.  Kleinworth's — The 
First  Crops  and  Cabins— The  Progress  Year  by  Year — The  Peach- 
Orchard — A  Happy  Life  —  Children  Growing  Up  — "Edward's  Or- 
chard "—The  Herding  of  Sheep— The  Boys  and  Girls— A  Charm- 
ing Picture  of  Rural  Life— The  Hospitable  Home— Lingering  on 
the  Porch— The  V/elcome  Guests— The  Lost  Child— The  Finding 
and  the  Rejoicings  —  The  Wild  Animals,  W^olves,  Bears,  and 
Panthers  — The  Panther  — The  Wolf -Chase  — Savage  Fight  be- 
tween Man  and  Wolf.  _  _  .  _  .         297 


CHAPTER    XV. 

Marriage  Certificates  — Average  Cost  of  Marriage  — Erecting  Log- 
Houses— Farmers  Trading  down  the  Mississippi— English  Farm- 
Laborers  become  Substantial  Farmers  and  Merchants  in  the 
English  Settlement  —  Death  of  Richard  Flower  —  His  Character- 
istics-Frequent Festivities  and  Family  Reunions  at  his  House 
— The  Ancestors  of  the  Flowers  —  Mrs.  Richard  Flower — The 
Buckinghamshire  Party  of  Emigrants  Arrive — German  Families 
Come  in  —  The  Yorkshire  Men  —  Good  Pork  and  Beef  at  Albion 
— The  Last  Ship's -Party  Arrive— Travelers  Visiting  the  Settle- 


CONTENTS.  vii 

ment — Mr.  Hulme  —  Mr.  Welby  writes  an  Abusive  Book — Mr. 
Fearon  writes  about  the  Settlement,  but  never  saw  It  —  The 
Thompsons — Mr.  Stewart  an  Edinboro'  Man — Mr.  D.  Constable, 
the  Man  with  a  Knapsack  and  a  Cane — An  Admirable  Charac- 
ter— Good  accomplished  by  Mr.  Constable — Sir  Thomas  Beevoir 
and  Lady  Beevoir  visit  Albion — The  Beevoir  Family  in  England 
—  The  Aristocracy  of  England  not  a  Degenerate  Race  —  Lord 
Frederick's  Sermon — The  American  Clock-Peddler — Defamatory 
Books  Published  in  England — Constitution  for  a  Library — Albion 
in  1822  and  i860 — Its  Peculiar  Characteristics — No  Printing-Press, 
no  Bank,  no  Lawyer  for  Thirty  Years — Log-Cabins  give  way  to 
Comfortable  Dwellings  —  Town  and  County  Affairs  —  The  Steady 
March  of  Improvement  in  the  Settlement — A  Bank  Established  in 
Albion — Two  Lawyers  settle  there — The  Doctors — Joel  Churchill, 
the  "Poor  Man's  Friend" — Cotton  grown  in  the  Settlement  at 
one  Time— Limits  of  the  English  Settlement — Never  any  Quar- 
rels between  the  English  and  Americans  —  Projected  Railroads 
— The  Southern  Cross  Railroad  bought  by  Gen.  Pickering — Solid 
Prosperity  enjoyed  by  the  Settlement — Annoyances  by  Insects — 
The  "Tires."  .._..-         311 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

Difficulty  in  Establishing  Schools — A  certain  Density  of  Population 
Necessary — In  Town  or  Village  of  Spontaneous  Growth — Oswald 
Warrington  keeps  School  at  Albion  in  its  Earliest  Days — Eng- 
lishmen and  New  Englanders  build  a  School-House  near  Albion 
— A  Colored  Man  Assists,  but  his  Children  are  not  Allowed  to 
go  to  School — Another  School-House — The  Scene  at  a  Country 
School— The  Little  Urchin  at  School— The  Older  Scholars— The 
Log  School-House  on  the  Frontier  an  Interesting  Object — Con- 
trasts with  the  Crowded  City-School — Permanent  Brick  School- 
House  at  Albion  —  Influences  of  the  School  on  the  Backwoods- 
men— The  Free-School  System  in  Illinois  — Statistics  of  Educa- 
tion in  Edwards  County — Agricultural  Fair  at  Albion  in  1858 — 
Splendid  Display.        ___._-         337 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

Success  of  the  English  Settlement— What  Contributed  to  it — Absence 
of  Land-Speculation — Happy  Adaptation  of  the  Country  to  Set- 
tlers— Prairie-Land  a  Source  of  National  Wealth — Sterling  Quali- 
ties of  the  English  Laborers  and  Farmers  —  Solid  Prosperity  of 
the  English  Settlement  in  Illinois  —  The  First  Annoyances  of 
the  Early  Settlers— The  Prairie-Fires— First-Founders  of  Settle- 


VI  u 


CONTENTS. 


ments  rarely  attain  Material  Advantages — 'What  they  are  Com- 
pelled to  Do— The  Fate  of  William  Penn— The  Compensations 
— Striking  Incidents  in  the  History  of  the  State  —  First -Settlers 
Accounted  for — The  Destiny  which  Befell  the  First-Founders — 
The  Remains  of  Morris  Birkbeck  Repose  in  the  Graveyard  at 
New  Harmony,  Ind. — What  became  of  his  Children — The  Pecun- 
iary Difficulties  and  Disasters  of  George  T'lower — Leaves  Illinois 
with  his  Family  in  1S49,  never  to  Return  to  Live — Cross  the 
Great  Wabash  —  Begin  the  W^orld  Anew  in  New  Harmony — 
Removes  to  Mt.  Vernon,  Ind.,  in  i860 — The  Last  Stage  of  Life's 
Journey— Ready  to  Lie   Down  to  Sleep.      -  -  .         349 


Appendix, 


361 


Index  of  Subjects, 


Index  of  Persons, 


375 
397 


INTRODUCTORY. 


Hon.    Isaac   N.    Arnold,  President  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society. 

Dear  Sir: — Twenty-two  years  ago  there  was  presented  to  our 
Society  a  manuscript  History  of  the  EngHsh  Settlement  in 
Edwards  County  in  this  State,  from  its  commencement  in  1817, 
by  George  Flower.  From  a  cursory  examination  of  it  myself, 
and  what  is  said  of  it  by  those  who  have  carefully  read  it,  I  am 
satisfied  it  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  history  of  our  State. 

It  is  replete  with  incidents  in  the  Hves  of  Governor  Edward 
Coles,  Morris  Birkbeck,  George  Flower,  and  others  of  that  noble 
band  who  fought  out  the  battle  of  freedom  in  our  State  in 
1823-4.  In  the  interest  of  the  history  of  the  State,  and  in 
justice  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Flower,  who  so  generously  pre- 
sented it  to  the  Society,  I  think  it  should  be  published.  I  will 
cheerfully  defray  the  expense.       Yours,  very  truly, 

Chicago,  August  jo,  1882.  L.   Z.    Leiter. 


L.  Z.  Leiter,  Esq. 

Dear  Sir: — I  have  received  your  note  of  the  30th  of  August, 
authorizing  the  publication  at  your  expense  of  the  History  of  the 
English  Settlement  in  Edwards  County  in  1817-18,  by  George 
Flower.  For  this  act  of  liberality  and  appreciation  of  a  valua- 
ble and  extremely  interesting  contribution  to  the  history  of  our 
State,  you  are  entitled  to  the  thanks,  not  only  of  our  Society,  but 
of  all  lovers  and  students  of  history.  Your  generosity  enables 
us  to  pubHsh  a  manuscript  which  would  long  ago  have  been  given 
to  the  public,  had  not  the  means  and  resources  of  this  Society 
been  crippled  by  the  Great  Fire  of  1871. 

I  desire  to  add  to  the  thanks  of  the  Society  my  own,  not  only 
for  this  liberal  act,  but  for  the  example  which  I  hope  and  believe 
will  be  the  beginning  of  a  series  of  contributions  through  the 
agency  of  our  Society,  to  the  history  of  our  State.and  the  North- 
West.  Very  truly  yours,  Isaac  N.  Arnold, 

Chicago,  September  4,  1882.     President  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society. 


PREFACE. 


AT  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society, 
held  on  the  i8th  day  of  September,  i860,  there  was 
presented  to  the  Society,  through  its  Secretary,  a  manu- 
script History  of  the  English  Colony,  founded  by  Morris  Birkbeck 
and  George  Flower,  in  Edwards  County,  Illinois,  in  181 7-1 8. 
This  valuable  and  interesting  manuscript  was  a  contribution  to  the 
Society  by  the  author,  George  Flower,  who  was  then  seventy-four 
years  of  age,  and  residing  at  Mount  Vernon,  Posey  County, 
Indiana.  In  connection  with  this  History  was  received  a  numer- 
ous collection  of  autograph  letters  written  to  Mr.  Flower  by 
Lafayette,  Jefferson,  Cobbett,  the  Abbe  Gaultier,  Count  de  Las- 
teyrie,  Madam  O'Connor,  D.  Macdonald,  then  of  New  Harmony, 
Indiana,  since  Lord  of  the  Isles  and  Earl  of  Skye,  and  other 
distinguished  correspondents.  Many  of  these  letters  are  pub- 
lished in  the  Appendix.  Most  fortunately,  both  the  manuscript 
and  the  letters  had  been  borrowed  from  the  Society  a  few  days 
before  the  Great  Fire  in  October,  187 1,  and  thus  saved  from 
destruction. 

Mr.  Flower  revised  his  History  several  times,  but  finally 
completed  it  when  spending  some  time  with  his  son,  the 
Rev.  Alfred  Flower,  at  his  residence  on  the  prairie,  about  two 
miles  south  of  Albion.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  month  of 
December,  1861,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Flower  made  a  visit  to  their 
daughter,  Mrs.  Agniel,  at  Grayville,  White  County,  111.  Early  in 
January,  1862,  they  were  both  taken  sick  on  the  same  day.    After 


lO 


PREFACE. 


an  illness  of  one  week  they  both  died  on  the  same  day,  Jan.  15, 
1862.  What  is  somewhat  remarkable,  they  had  often  expressed 
to  each  other,  and  to  their  family  and  friends,  the  desire  that  they 
might  pass  away  together.  Mrs.  Flower  died  at  dawn,  and  Mr. 
Flower  breathed  his  last  at  twilight  in  the  evening.  At  ten 
oclock  of  the  last  day  the  attending-physician  pronounced  Mr. 
Flower  out  of  danger,  and  there  seemed  to  be  every  appearance 
of  his  speedy  recovery.  It  was  not  till  the  afternoon  that  the 
family  ventured  to  announce  to  liim  the  death  of  his  wife. 
Listening  to  the  announcement  with  the  utmost  composure,  there 
was  soon  noticed  a  sad  change  for  the  worse,  and  although  his 
bedside  was  surrounded  by  his  family,  he  passed  away  so  quietly 
and  peacefully  that  no  on  was  aware  of  the  exact  moment  he 
expired.  They  were  buried  in  the  same  grave  at  Grayville.  Mr. 
Flower  was  greatly  exercised  in  regard  to  the  condition  of  the 
country  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion,  and  was  intensely 
loyal  to  the  Government.  His  fourth  son,  Richard  Flower,  was 
among  the  first  to  enlist  in  the  First  Indiana  Cavalry,  at  Mount 
Vernon,  Indiana,  and  he  fell  in  the  battle  of  Fredericktown, 
Missouri,  in  the  fall  of  186 r.  * 

The  English  Colony  was  located  in  Edwards  County.  The 
following  letter  from  the  Hon.  Henry  Dodge  Dement,  secretary- 
of-state,  gives  information  as  to  the  organization  of  the  County 
in  1 8 14,  and  of  the  extent  of  country  it  then  embraced. 
Edwards  County  was  cut  off  from  Gallatin,  and  then  White 
County  in  18 18  was  taken  off  from  the  south  i)art  of  Edwards. 
In  its  original  organization  Edwards  County  embraced  an 
immense  area  of  territory — extending  practically  from  the  Ohio 
river,  (for  its  southern  boundary,  Gallatin  County,  was  but  rela- 
tively a  short  distance  from  the  river,)  to  Upper  Canada,  including 
what  is  now  a  portion  of  the  State  of  Wisconsin.  The  following 
counties,  or  parts  of  counties,  in  Illinois,  have  been  formed  out 
of  the  territory  originally  included  in  Edwards  County: 


*  The  battle  of  Fredericktown  was  fought  on  October  18,  1861,  by  Col. 
J.  B.  Plummer  (afterward  Brigadier-General),  of  the  nth  Missouri  volunteers. 
The  rebels  were  commanded  by  Jefil".  Thompson,  called  the  "Swamp  Fox," 
and  Col.  Lowe.     The  latter  was  killed. 


PREFACE. 

Wabash, 

Wayne, 

Jefferson, 

Marion, 

Clay, 

Richland, 

Lawrence, 

Crawford, 

Jasper, 

Effingham, 

Fayette, 

Shelby, 

Coles, 

Cumberland, 

Edgar, 

Clark, 

Macon, 

Piatt, 

Champaign, 

Vermillion, 

DeWitt, 

McLean, 

Livingston, 

Iroquois, 

Kankakee, 

Grundy, 

LaSalle, 

Will, 

Kendall, 

DuPage, 

Cook, 

Kane, 

DeKalb, 

Boone, 

McHenry, 

Lake. 

II 


In  the  presence  of  the  stupendous  changes  in  this  State,  it  is 
hard  to  imagine  that  sixty-eight  years  ago,  when  Edwards  County 
was  organized,  neither  Cook  County  nor  Chicago  had  any 
existence,  but  that  the  present  Cook  County  was  in  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  Eldwards  County,  and  its  county-seat  at  Palmyra,  at  the 
Falls  of  the  Big  Wabash,  a  town  which  has  long  since  ceased  to 
be. 

"Springfield,  August  12,  1882. 
"Hon.  E.  B.  Washburne,  Chicago,  111. 

'■^My  Dear  Sir: — Replying  to  your  favor  of  the  9th  inst.,  it 
affords  me  pleasure  to  furnish  you  the  following  information 
concerning  the  formation  of  Edwards  County,  which  would  seem 
to  answer  your  inquiries  and  put  you  in  possession  of  the  desired 
information.  I  begin  by  giving  you  the  original  boundaries  of 
the  County,  as  described  in  the  act  creating  the  County : 

" 'Edwards  County —organized  Nov.  2Sth,  1S14. 

"  'All  that  tract  of  country  within  the  following  boundaries,  to 
wit:  Beginning  at  the  mouth  of  Bon  Pas  creek,  on  the  Big 
Wabash,  -and  running  thence  due  west  to  the  meridian  line,  (3d 
P.  M.)  which  runs  north  from  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  river;  thence 
with  said  meridian  line  and  due  north"  till  it  strikes  the  line  of 
Upper  Canada;  thence  with  the  line  of  Upper  Canada  to  the 
line  that  separates  this  territory  from  the  Indiana  Territory;  and 
thence  with  the  said  dividing  line  to  the  beginning.' 

'•The  south  boundary  line  of  the  County  was  about  the  middle 
of  Township  three  (3)  south.  The  territory  out  of  which 
Edwards  was  formed  comprised  the  northern  portion  of  Gallatin, 


1 2  PREFACE. 

and  the  eastern  portion  of  Madison  County.  You  will  notice  that 
Edwards  not  only  embraced  all  the  counties  in  eastern  Illinois,  as 
at  present  organized,  north  of  Town  three  (3),  south,  but  a  large 
portion  of  Wisconsin  as  well. 

"If  you  will  take  a  map  of  the  State  of  Illinois  and  draw  a  line 
east  and  west  from  the  3d  P.  M.  to  the  Wabash  river,  on  the 
southern  boundaries  of  the  present  counties  of  Edwards  and 
Wayne,  a  glance  from  this  line  to  the  northern  line  of  the  State, 
and  east  of  the  3d  meridian,  will  disclose  the  present  counties, 
embraced  in  the  original  county  of  PMwards. 

"The  county-seat  was  located  at  Palmyra.  If  you  so  desire,  I 
can  send  you  a  copy  of  the  law  forming  the  county. 

"Very  truly  yours, 

"Henry  Dodge  Dement." 

The  History  of  the  English  Settlement  of  Edwards  County, 
presented  in  this  volume,  can  not  fail  to  be  read  with  avidity  by 
all  interested  in  the  history  of  Illinois.  The  author,  George 
Flower,  was  no  ordinary  man.  He  has  left  the  impress  of  his 
character  and  his  services  upon  the  State,  and  his  name  will 
always  be  honorably  associated  with  the  colony  he  helped  to 
found.  Very  few  abler  men  than  Morris  Birkbeck  and  George 
Flower  have  illustrated  the  history  of  our  Commonwealth.  Mr. 
Birkbeck  died  before  his  work  was  accomplished,  but  not  before 
he  had  acquired  a  name  and  a  fame  for  the  great  service  he  had 
rendered  in  saving  the  State  of  his  adoption  from  the  curse  of 
Slavery.  The  services  of  George  Flower,  and  his  father,  Richard 
Flower,  in  the  same  connection,  entitle  them,  as  well  as  Mr. 
Birkbeck,  to  the  lasting  gratitude  of  the  people  of  Illinois.  The 
narrative  of  Mr.  Flower  is  simple  and  unpretending  in  its  recitals, 
and  it  bears  the  impress  of  sincerity  and  truth.  The  story  of  the 
struggles,  the  labors,  and  the  sufferings  of  the  early  colonists,  the 
picturesque  descriptions  of  scenes  and  events,  give  to  the  work 
all  the  interest  of  a  romance. 

The  following  notice  by  Dr.  Barry,  the  then  librarian  of  the 
Chicago  Historical  Society,  and  which  appeared  in  the  Chicago 
Tribune  of  March  22,  1862,  is  appropriately  inserted  in  this 
Preface,  as  a  just  tribute  to  the  character  of  George  Flower  : 


PREFACE.  13 

A  great  and  good  man  has  recently  passed  from  us.  English 
by  birth,  American  by  choice,  for  near  half  a  century  he  has 
lived  among  us — so  long  that  the  tide  of  events  and  the  rush  of 
adventurers  had  buried  from  general  notice  the  silver-haired 
veteran  who  once  was  known,  esteemed,  and  loved  in  both 
hemispheres — the  honored  founder  of  a  prosperous  colony,  the 
enterprising  agriculturist,  the  philanthropist  of  large  and  noble 
aims,  the  strong,  true-hearted,  and  upright  man. 

Born  in  Hertfordshire,  England,  in  affluent  circumstances,  after 
gaining  some  distinction  in  his  native  land,  by  continental  travel 
for  the  benefit  of  British  husbandry,  he  came  to  America  in  181 7 
(about  thirty  years  of  age)  as  the  associate  of  Morris  Birkbeck  in 
founding  the  English  Colony  at  Albion,  Edwards  County,  in 
Illinois. 

It  was  no  mere  sordid  impulse  that  moved  either  of  these 
noble-hearted  men  in  their  scheme  of  colonization.  Republicans 
from  deep-seated  sentiment  and  conviction,  the  Great  American 
Republic  drew  them  hither  as  to  a  congenial  home;  and  here 
they  jointly  established  a  thrifty  and  successful  colony,  transplant- 
ing on  our  virgin  prairies  the  arts  and  improvements  of  the  old 
mother-country.  The  large  wealth  possessed  by  Mr.  Flower  ^ 
gave  him  a  commanding,  a  responsible,  and,  we  may  add,  a  \ 
laborious  position  in  the  new  Colony.  His  spacious  mansion,  of  ' 
rare  extent  and  furnish  in  a  new  settlement,  was  the  scene  of 
frank  and  elegant  hospitality.  Strangers  of  distinction  sought  it 
from  afar.  Improved  husbandry,  with  the  importation  of  the 
finest  fleeces  of  England  and  Spain,  followed  the  guiding  hand  ot 
the  master-mind.  When  the  history  of  the  Albion  Colony  is 
made  known,  it  will  form  the  truest  and  best  eulogium  of  its 
founders. 

The  calm  and  philosophic  wisdom  of  Mr.  Elower,  united  with 
a  rare  benevolence,  has  left  bright  traces  upon  our  Western 
history.  In  the  eventful  strife  which  accompanied  the  daring 
attempt  in  1823  to  legalize  African  slavery  in  Illinois,  no  one 
enlisted  with  a  truer  heroism  than  he.  We,  of  the  present  day, 
and  amidst  the  dire  commotions  of  civil  war,  can  but  poorly 
comprehend  the  ferocity,  and  the  gloomy  portents  of  that  strug- 
gle. So  nearly  balanced  were  the  contending  parties  of  the  State, 
that  the  vote  of  the  English  Colony,  ever  true  to  the  instincts  of 
freedom,  turned  the  scale — a  handful  of  sturdy  Britons  being  the 
forlorn  hope  to  stay  the  triumph  of  wrong  and  oppression,  whose 
success  might  have  sealed  forever  the  doom  of  republican  and 
constitutional  liberty  in  America. 

The  failure  of  that  nefarious  plot  against  our  young  and  noble 


14  PREFACE. 

State,  led  to  an  outburst  of  persecution  and  wrong  against  free 
negroes,  and  their  humane  protectors,  transcending  even  the 
invidious  hostility  of  our  so-called  Black  Laws,  and  Constitutional 
Conventions.  This  wanton  and  vindictive  display  of  inhumanity, 
it  was,  which  gave  birth  to  Mr.  Flower's  plan  for  the  colonization 
of  free  negroes  in  Hayti,  in  which  he  had  the  confidence  and 
cooperation  of  President  Boyer,  and  which  attracted  an  approv- 
ing notice  throughout  the  P'ree-states  of  the  North.  Although 
but  partially  successful,  its  necessity  being  from  the  pressure  of 
subsecpient  events  less  urgent,  its  conception  and  management 
reflect  the  highest  honor  upon  its  author,  whose  name  will  merit 
a  place  among  the  benefactors  of  mankind. 

Mr.  Flower  was  one  of  that  class  of  men  whose  fine  insight, 
large  views,  and  calm  force  raised  him  above  all  claimants  to 
popular  favor.  In  his  early  maturity,  he  numbered  among  his 
friends  and  correspondents  such  personages  as  our  American 
Jefterson,  Lafayette  and  the  Comte  de  Lasteyrie  of  France, 
Madame  O'Connor  (the  daughter  of  Condorcet)  of  Ireland,  and 
Cobbett  of  Fngland.  By  these,  and  such  as  these,  his  superior 
tone  of  mind  and  character  was  held  in  true  esteem.  In  the 
depths  of  our  yet  unfurrowed  prairies,  and  amidst  the  struggle 
and  hardship  of  a  new  settlement,  a  mind  and  heart  like  his 
might  fail  of  a  just  appreciation  by  his  cotemporaries.  This  sad 
realization  he  doubtless  felt.  But  now  that  he  has  passed  from 
the  scenes  of  his  voluntary  exile,  let  it  not  be  said  that  a  true  and 
gifted  manhood  was  here,  and  we  knew  it  not.  There  are  those, 
now  and  to  come,  who  will  keep  green  his  memory,  and  take 
pleasure  in  recovering  the  traces  of  a  noble  mind,  that  lived, 
thought,  and  acted  only  for  human  good. 

Mr.  Flower  met  with  the  reverses  which  are  the  prescribed  lot 
of  the  colonizers  of  the  world.  The  wealth  and  position  which 
he  commanded,  amidst  the  financial  changes  and  revolutions  of  a 
new  country,  were  finally  succeeded  by  pinching  penury,  which 
but  served,  however,  to  reveal  his  inward  strength,  and  his  unfal- 
tering faith.  For  many  years  he  has  lived  in  retirement  in 
Indiana,  or  among  his  revering  children  in  this  State;  and  for  the 
last  few  years  has  beguiled  his  age  in  preparing  a  history  of  the 
English  Colony  he  assisted  to  found,  which  he  lived  to  complete, 
at  the  request  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Chicago.  We  hope, 
for  the  gratification  of  the  public,  and  in  justice  to  the  author,  its 
publication  may  not  be  long  delayed. 

On  the  morning  of  15th  of  January  last,  there  lay,  under  the 
loving  and  sad  watch  of  dear  friends  at  Grayville,  the  sinking 
form  of  the  aged  man,  whose  worth  we  have  poorly  attempted  to 


I 


PREFACE.  15 

set  forth,  and  the  partner  of  his  long  and  chequered  Hfe.  But  a 
week  before  they  had  expressed  the  hope,  often  repeated,  that, 
happily  united  in  life,  they  might  not  be  divided  in  their  death. 
While  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun  were  gilding  the  room  of  the 
fond  wife,  she  expired;  and  soon  after  the  going  down  of  the 
same  day's  sun,  followed,  to  his  last  and  welcome  rest,  the  spirit 
of  George  Flower. 

A  touching  letter,  communicating  the  particulars  of  Mr.  Flow- 
er's death,  was  read  at  the  meeting  of  the  Chicago  Historical 
Society,  held  on  Tuesday  last.  The  following  appropriate  and 
deserving  tribute,  passed  by  the  Society,  we  have  pleasure  in 
placing  in  our  columns: 

Whereas,  This  Society  has  received  from  the  family  of  the  late 
George  Flower,  the  painful  tidings  of  his  recent  death,  at  an 
advanced  age,  thus  closing  a  career  which  for  near  half-a-century 
has  been  honorably  devoted  to  the  welfare  of  this,  his  adopted 
State ; 

Resolved^  That  in  the  estimation  of  the  members  of  this  Society, 
the  late  George  Flower,  as  an  enlightened  and  munificent  founder 
of  the  successful  colony  of  English  settlers  at  Albion,  in  Edwards 
County,  in  this  State,  founded  in  181 7;  as  an  early  and  distin- 
guished advocate  of  African  colonization ;  as  an  intelligent, 
high-minded,  and  patriotic  citizen,  ever  loyal  to  his  adopted 
country  and  its  institutions,  seeking  the  highest  good  of  the  State, 
and  laboring  for  the  best  interests  of  mankind,  to  whose  advance- 
ment he  freely  dedicated  his  superior  talents  and  ample  fortune, 
unambitious  of  office  or  preferment,  and  in  loyal  obedience  to 
the  promptings  of  a  nobly -gifted  nature,  merits  a  distinguished 
place  on  the  roll  of  the  founders  and  benefactors  of  this  State, 
whose  institutions  he  assisted  to  shape,  and  whose  gigantic 
growth  and  prosperity  he  was  permitted  by  Divine  Providence  to 
live  to  witness. 

Resolved,  That  the  members  of  this  Society  entertain  a  grateful 
sense  of  the  various  and  esteemed  services  rendered  to  its  objects 
by  their  honored  friend  and  associate,  and  especially  in  his 
finished  and  able  memorials,  recently  prepared  for  this  Society,  of 
the  English  Colony  at  Albion,  in  whose  foundation  and  growth 
he  had  so  conspicuous  a  part. 

Resolved,  That  this  Society  deem  it  due  and  fitting  to  express 
their  high  and  admiring  esteem  of  the  personal  character  of  the 
late  Mr.  Flower,  ever  marked  by  a  high-toned  integrity,  and  the 
(jualities  of  a  true  manhood;  adorning  prosperity  by  a  munificent 
bounty  and  hospitality,  and  irradiating  adversity — the  adversity 


i6 


PREFACE. 


which  too  often  befalls  the  founders  of  colonies  and  the  benefac- 
tors of  mankind  —  with  the  peace,  constancy,  and  trust  of  an 
exalted  faith. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  communicate  a  copy  of  the  above 
proceedings  to  the  family  and  friends  of  the  late  Mr.  Flower, 
with  the  expression  of  the  heartfelt  condolence  of  this  Society 
with  them  in  their  most  sad  and  painful  bereavement. 

As  to  the  portraits  illustrating  the  volume,  that  of  Mr.  Birkbeck 
is  from  an  engraving  in  the  possession  of  E.  G.  Mason,  Esq.,  of 
Chicago,  and  that  of  Mr.  Flower  from  an  oil  painting  belonging 
to  his  family.  This  portrait,  life-size,  together  with  a  life-size 
portrait  of  Mr§.  Flower,  painted  at  the  same  time,  and  by  the 
same  artist,  have  recently  been  presented  to  the  Chicago  Histori- 
cal Society,  by  the  family  of  George  Flower.  That  generous  gift 
is  fully  appreciated  by  the  Society,  and  the  donors  will  not  only 
receive  the  grateful  thanks  of  its  members,  but  of  all  persons  inter- 
ested in  the  early  history  of  our  State  and  of  the  English  Settle- 
ment in  Edwards  County.  These  interesting  portraits  will  adorn 
the  rooms  of  the  Society. 

The  Chicago  Historical  Society  and  the  public  generally,  are 
indebted  to  Levi  Z.  Leiter,  Esq.,  of  Chicago,  for  the  publication 
of  this  volume.  The  Society,  crippled  by  the  disastrous  fire  of 
187 1,  found  itself  unable  to  publish  the  History,  and  it  was  only 
after  a  recent  examination  of  it  by  Mr.  Leiter  when  that  gentle- 
man, with  a  liberality  only  equalled  by  his  interest  in  everything 
connected  with  the  history  of  our  State,  generously  offered  to 
defray  the  entire  expense  of  the  publication. 

E.  B.  W. 

365  Dearborn  Avenue, 

Chicaco,  October  18,  1SS2. 


THE  HISTORY 

OF    THE 

English  SErriEMENT  in  Edwards  County, 

ILLINOIS. 


CHAPTER   I. 


Prefatory  Remarks — The  Founders  of  the  English  Colony  in  Illinois, 
Morris  Birkbeck  and  George  Flower — Sketch  of  Morris  Birkbeck 
— His  Father  a  Quaker — His  Education  and  Early  Life  in  Eng- 
land— Travels  of  Birkbeck  and  Flower  through  France — Edward 
Coles  visits  Mr.  Birkbeck  and  Family  at  Wanborough,  England 
— Coles  afterward  becomes  Governor  of  Illinois,  and  Birkbeck 
his  Secretary-of-State — Characteristics  of  Birkbeck — Embarks  for 
the  United  States  in  April,  1817  —  Richard  Flower,  father  of 
George  Flower — Reflections  on  the  United  States — George  Flower 
in  the  United  States  a  year  before  Birkbeck. 

Narratives  of  voyages  and  travels,  from  the  incidents 
and  accidents  recorded,  and  new  scenes  developed  at  every 
step,  have  been  found  acceptable  reading,  especially  to 
youth,  at  all  times  and  in  every  age. 

When  given  in  plain  style,  and  in  simple  language,  by 
one  who  has  witnessed  what  he  relates,  an  interest  is 
sometimes  given,  denied  to  fiction  in  its  highest  flights 
and  brightest  polish.       . 

The  history  of  the  settlement  of  a  distant  people,  leav- 
2 


i8 


ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 


ing  a  land  of  high  civilization  for  a  wilderness  in  another 
hemisphere,  is  an  event  of  some  interest  at  the  time,  both 
to  actors  and  spectators.  In  after-times  it  may  assume  a 
deeper  interest,  perhaps  as  having  given  tone  and  charac- 
ter to  a  populous  and  powerful  nation. 

In  succeeding  generations,  when  the  wilderness  becomes 
peopled,  and  towns  and  cities  are  thickl\'  strewn  over  its 
surface,  all  inhabited  by  a  people  speaking  the  same  lan- 
guage, an  observant  traveler  will  find  in  different  sections 
people  of  various  habits  and  opinions.  In  communities 
sometimes  proximate  and  sometimes  remote  from  each 
other,  there  will  exist  distinctive  features,  mental  and 
physical.  Their  opinions  and  intellectual  power  will 
differ,  no  less  than  their  complexions,  form,  and  feature. 
How  to  account  for  these  differences  will  be  an  interesting 
problem  to  solve.  Climate,  soil,  and  position  have  their 
influences;  but  these  are  all  subordinate  to  the  hereditary 
bias.  The  opinions  and  habits,  the  physical,  mental,  and 
moral  powers,  handed  down  from  father  to  son,  are  to  be 
traced  in  distant  generations.  Thus  we  see  that  the 
religion,  industry,  and  thrift  of  New  England  are  to  be 
traced  to  those  qualities  in  the  original  band  of  its  pilgrim 
fathers. 

The  open-handed  hosiMtalitx-  of  \*irginia,  its  displa}-, 
dilapidation,  and  loose  living,  all  may  be  traced  to  the 
jovial  and  careless  cavaliers  of  King  Charles'  time,  who 
settled  on  her  shores. 

Pennsylvania,  although  largeh'  intermixed  with  the  Irish 
and  German  elements,  yet  preserves  the  characteristics 
and  aspects  of  its  first-citizens,  the  Quakers. 


FOUNDERS  MORRIS  BIRKBECK  AND  GEO.  FLOWER,     19 

The  straight-streeted  City  of  Philadelphia,  with  its  sub- 
stantial houses,  and  neat  keeping,  reflects  the  drab-colored 
mantle  of  William  Penn. 

Taking  this  view,  the  character,  habits,  and  opinions  of 
the  first-founders  and  first-settlers  of  new  colonies  assume 
in  after  years  an  interest  they  would  not  otherwise  possess. 

A  distinction  should  ever  be  made  between  the  first- 
founders  and  first -settlers.  They  are  classes  of  men  dis- 
tinguished from  each  other  in  mental  tone  and  eeneral  • 
habit.  Explorers  and  first-founders,  sanguine,  enterprising, 
and  imaginative,  are  generally  men  of  theory  and  specula- 
tion. The  first-settlers  are  more  commonly  endowed  with 
caution,  prudence,  and  closer  business  habits.  Each  class 
maintains  for  a  considerable  time  its  relative  position,  in 
the  planting  and  early  progress  of  a  new  settlement. 

The  natural  introduction  to  the  history  of  the  first- 
settlers  will  be  a  brief  biographical  sketch  of  its  two  first- 
founders,  Morris  Birkbeck  and  George  Flower. 
■  The  father  of  Morris  Birkbeck,  also  named  Morris,  was 
an  eminent  Quaker  preacher,  whosf  good  name  was  well 
known  by  Friends  in  America,  as  well  as  England.  His 
teachings  were  held  in  much  reverence  at  home  and 
abroad,  especially  by  the  more  orthodox  members  of  the 
Society.  Old  Morris  Birkbeck,  as  he  was  familiarly  called, 
when  his  son  arrived  at  manhood,  although  eminent  as  a 
preacher,  was  by  no  means  so  for  his  wealth  or  worldly 
possessions.  But  he  gave  to  his  son  a  much  better  educa- 
tion than  generally  falls  to  the  lot  of  the  children  of  poor 
Friends. 

Morris  Birkbeck,  the  youngier,  had  a  thorough  knowl- 


20        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY, 


edge  of  Latin,  and  a  slight  knowledge  of  Greek.  In  after 
life,  he  mastered  the  French  language,  so  as  to  read  it  with 
facility.  Whilst  a  mere  youth,  he  was  appointed  clerk  to 
the  Friends'  meeting.  The  duties  of  this  office  made  him 
a  ready  writer,  and  a  systematic  arranger  of  documents 
and  papers  of  every  kind.  Very  early  in  life,  he  was 
placed  upon  a  farm.  A  farmer's  boy  occupies  much  the 
same  place  upon  a  farm  as  a  cabin-boy  does  on  board  a 
ship.  There  it  was  that  he  learned  by  experience  farming 
and  farm-work.  When  a  young  man,  he  4iired  a  farm, 
Avith  no  capital  of  his  own,  and  with  a  very  small  borrowed 
capital  from  a  friend.  He  worked  on  the  farm  with  great 
assiduity,  not  only  with  his  own  hands,  but  with  such 
labor  as  his  limited  means  allowed  him  to  command.  He 
watched  his  own  progress,  or  rather  his  position,  with 
great  solicitude.  He  has  often  told  me,  that  many  times 
when  he  took  stock,  after  valuing  everything  he  possessed, 
even  his  books  and  clothes,  he  found  himself  worse  than 
nothing.  But,  by  perseverance,  he  acquired  a  little.  He 
afterward  took,  on  a  long  lease,  a  much  larger  farm  called 
Wanborough,  containing  about  1500  acres  of  land,  near  the 
town  of  Guilford,  in  the  county  of  Surrey.  This  farm  he 
worked  with  great  perseverance  and  spirit,  always  adopt- 
ing improvements  in  husbandry,  implements,  and  live- 
stock, that  appeared  of  any  practical  value.  Here  he 
acquired  a  competence,  and  brought  up  a  family  of  four 
sons  and  three  daughters,  to  whom  he  gave  a  liberal  edu- 
cation, and  to  whom  he  was  a  most  kind  and  indulgent 
parent.  The  farm  of  Wanborough  was  a  hamlet.  A 
parish  is  a  large  organization.     It  has  its  church,  parson, 


SKETCH    OF    MORRIS   BIRKBECK.  21 

vestrymen,  church-wardens,  and  overseers  of  the  poor.  A 
hamlet  is  generally  a  small  village  or  district,  occupied, 
and  often  owned,  by  one  person,  who  is  required  to  pro- 
vide for  the  poor  it  may  contain. 

The  owner  of  a  hamlet  is  a  potentate  on  a  small  scale, 
brought  into  immediate  contact  with  its  poor  inhabitants, 
who,  by  the  laws  of  England,  he  is  bound  to  aid  in  sick- 
ness or  want,  by  advice  and  material   assistance. 

When  I  first  became  acquainted  with  Mr.  Birkbeck  he 
was  nearly  fifty  years  of  age,  enjoying  excellent  health. 
Mental  and  bodily  activity  were  combined  with  unim- 
pared  habits.  In  person  he  was  below  middle  stature 
— rather  small,  spare,  not  fleshy,  but  muscular  and  wiry. 
With  a  constitution  not  of  the  strongest,  he  was  yet  a 
strong  and  active  man.  His  bodily  frame  was  strength- 
ened and  seasoned  by  early  labor  and  horseback  exercise 
in  the  open  air,  which,  from  the  nature  of  his  business,  was 
necessary  to  its  supervision.  He  was  capable  of  under- 
going great  fatigue,  and  of  enduring  fatigue  without  in- 
jury. His  complexion  was  bronzed  from  exposure;  face 
marked  with  many  lines;  rather  sharp  features,  lighted  by 
a  quick  twinkling  eye;  and  rapid  utterance.  He  was  origi- 
nally of  an  irascible  temper,  which  was  subdued  by  his 
Quaker  breeding,  and  kept  under  control  by  watchfulness 
and  care.  But  eye,  voice,  and  action  would  occasionally 
betray  the  spirit-work  within.  Mr.  Birkbeck,  when  I  first 
became  acquainted  with  him, 'was  a  widower.  When  no 
friend  was  with  him,  he  would  sometimes  sit  for  hours 
in  the  afternoon,  by  his  fire  in  the  dining-room,  his  only 
companions  a  long-stemmed  clay-pipe  and  a  glass  of  water 
on  the  table  beside  him. 


ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 


The  little  artificial  thirst,  occasioned  by  smoking, 
\vhen  habituall}^  allayed  by  mixed -liquors,  or  any  thing 
stronger  than  water,  he  thought  had  betrayed  into  habits 
of  intemperance,  unsuspectingly,  more  individuals  than 
any  other  single  cause.  A  leisurely  Avalk  around  the 
premises,  an  observation  on  any  thing  out  of  place,  with 
directions  for  the  coming  labor  of  the  morrow,  generally 
closed  the  day's  business  with  him.  At  tea,  he  again 
joined  the  family  circle,  enjoyed  the  exhilarating  refresh- 
ment, and  the  abandonment  of  all  business  cares. 

The  American  supper  does  not  exactly  correspond  to 
the  English  tea;  it  is  a  more  formal,  substantial,  and  busi- 
ness-like meal,  not  differing  from  the  breakfast  and  dinner 
that  have  gone  before  it.  The  men  again  return  to  their 
business,  and  the  women  to  their  household-  cares.  Not 
so  in  England.  The  English  tea,  a  light  refection  in  itself, 
is  the  reunion  of  the  family  party,  after  the  various  occu- 
pations of  the  day.  The  drudgery  of  business  and  its 
cares  are  then  put  aside  for  the  day.  A  new  set  of  ideas, 
more  light,  buoyant,  and  refreshing,  come  to  fill  up  the 
evening,  preparing  mind  and  body  for  sound  and  refreshing 
sleep — a  book,  music,  conversation;  if  the  women  do  any 
needle-work,  it  is  then  of  the  lightest  kind,  neither  inter- 
rupting conversation,  nor  disturbing  any  reader.  This 
enjoyment  is  common  to  all  classes  in  England,  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree;  and  the  loss  of  this  habit  is  to  an 
Englishman  one  of  his  greatest  privations  in  his  change  of 
country. 

If  Mr.  Birkbeck  was  absent  from  the  family  party  in  the 
drawing-room, — and  sometimes  he  was  so,  even  when  his 


BIRKBECK   AND   FLOWER   VISIT   FRANCE.  23 

house  was  full  of  visitors — he  was  sure  to  be  found  in  a 
small  study,  a  little  room  peculiarly  his  own,  trying  some 
chemical  experiment,  or  analyzing  some  earth  or  new 
fossil,  that  he  picked  up  in  his  morning  ramble  in  his 
chalk -quarries. 

After  the  downfall  of  Napoleon  the  First,  and  the  peace 
succeeding  to  a  twenty- years'  war,  Mr.  Birkbeck  invited 
me  to  accompany  him  in  a  journey  to  France,  to  which  I 
readily  acceded.  We  traveled  together  three  months  in 
that  country,  avoiding  the  usual  route  of  English  travel. 
Passing  from  north  to  south,  to  the  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, skirting  the  Pyrenees,  and  returning  through  the 
heart  of  the  country  by  a  more  easterly  route  to  Paris,  we 
saw  more  of  the  country  and  Frenchmen  at  home,  than 
we  otherwise  should,  if  confined  to  any  one  of  the  popular 
routes  of  travel.  In  this  journey  we  saw  much  of  the 
peasantry  and  small  proprietors  of  the  soil;  and  here  and 
there  an  institution,  and  a  man  of  celebrity  and  fame. 
The  Botanical  Garden  at  Avignon,  then  kept  by  the  cele- 
brated de  Candolle,  was  an  object  of  great  interest.*  In 
the  hot-house  was  the  tall  aloe  in  its  full  size  and  beauty, 
in  its  centennial  bloom.  A  little  circumstance  occurred 
that  showed  the  extent  to  which   art- culture  existed   in 

*  Augustin  Pyrame  de  Candolle  was  born  in  Geneva,  Switzerland,  in  1778, 
and  died  in  1841.  He  was  a  celebrated  botanist  and  naturalist,  and  the 
author  of  many  works,  which  acquired  for  him  a  European  reputation.  He 
was  educated  in  Paris,  and  graduated  as  a  doctor  in  medicine,  but  afterward  * 
devoted  himself  mostly  to  the  study  of  botany.  In  1806,  he  was  charged  by 
the  French  Government  to  study  the  state  of  agriculture  in  France;  and,  in 
1808,  he  accepted  the  chair  of  botany  in  the  medical  school  at  Montpelier. 
It  must  have  been  about  this  time  that  he  kept  the  botanical  garden  at  Avig- 
non, which  Mr.  Flower  visited. 


^24        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY.. 

France,  among  classes  where  it  would  not  be  expected  to 
exist.  An  artist  had  just  arrived  with  a  portfolio  of  the 
flowers  of  Spain — some  hundreds  of  specimens,  which  he 
had  copied  in  life-like  size  and  color,  with  a  beauty  and 
fidelity  of  execution  seldom  witnessed.  De  CandoUe, 
wishing  to  retain  copies,  and  the  time  being  short,  distrib- 
uted these  pictures  in  twos  and  threes  to  the  young  women 
of  Avignon,  many  of  them  in  humble  life,  as  seamstresses 
and  the  like.  In  three  days  the  originals  were  returned 
without  a  blemish,  and  the  full  number  of  copies  depicted 
with  an  accuracy  truly  astonishing.  But  I  must  leave 
France  and  Frenchmen,  or  I  shall  never  get  to  the  English 
settlement  in  Illinois.  On  our  return,  Mr.  Birkbeck  pub- 
lished his  "  Notes  of  a  Journey  through  France."  It  had 
a  wide  circulation  in  England,  and  was  well  known  in 
America.  It  was  the  first  book  I  met  with  at  Monticello, 
the  residence  of  Thomas  Jefferson. 

About  this  time,  Mr.  Edward  Coles,  on  his  return  from 
a  diplomatic  mission  to  Russia,  spent  some  time  in  Eng- 
land. An  introduction  to  Mr.  Coles,  in  London,  was 
succeeded  by  a  visit  to  Mr.  Birkbeck's  house  and  family, 
at  Wanborough.  Here  an  intimacy  and  friendship  was 
formed,  in  consequence  of  which  Mr.  Coles,  when  governor 
of  Illinois,  appointed  Mr.  Birkbeck  his  secretary-of-state.* 


*  Edward  Coles  was  elected  governor  of  Illinois  in  August,  1822.  His 
election  was  followed  by  a  contest  which  continued  for  eighteen  months,  and 
which,  for  bitterness  and  desperation,  is  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of 
political  struggles  in  the  United  States.  It  resulted  from  an  attempt  to 
change  the  free-state  constitution  of  the  State  into  a  constitution  tolerating 
slavery.  Though  Gov.  Coles  was  a  Virginian,  and  had  been  a  slave-holder, 
he  was  the  leader  of  the  free-state  men  who  fought  out  the  great  battle 
of  freedom  in  that  terrific  conflict.     By  this  time,  the   English  Colony  in 


GOVERNOR   COLES   AND    MORRIS   BIRKBECK.  2$ 

Although  neither  at  the  time  had  any  such  thought, 
events  were  hurrying  on  to  such  a  consummation.  In 
less  than  two  years  from  that  time,  they  were  both  in 
Illinois,  a  little  later,  Mr.  Coles  as  governor,  Mr.  Birkbeck 
as  secretary-of-state.  About  this  time,  Mr.  Birkbeck 
entertained  vague  notions  of  leaving  England.  The  long 
lease  of  his  farm  was  about  expiring.  He  experienced,  in 
common  with  other  farmers,  losses  from  the  low  price  of 
farm  produce,  induced  by  the  general  peace  after  the  long 
war.  I  was  traveling  at  the  time  in  America,  dropping 
him  an  occasional  letter;  but  not  having  a  thought  of  his 
coming  to  this  country.  In  fact,  it  was  a  crisis  in  his  fate, 
which  occurs  in  the  life  of  every  man  at  some  period  or 
other. 

Mr.  Birkbeck  was  of  quick  perception  and  lively  conver- 
sation, often  spiced  with  pungent  remarks  and  amusing 
anecdotes.  He  was  a  general  and  rapid  reader,  and,  not- 
withstanding his  business  occupations,  showed  a  decided 
taste  for  scientific  investigation,  for  which  he  always  found 
time  to  indulge.  For  many  years  before  leaving  England, 
Mr.  Birkbeck  absented  himself  from  Quaker  meetings.  His 
general  and  varied  reading,   and  his  more  extended  per- 

Edwards  County  had  become  an  important  factor  in  the  politics  of  the  State. 
Morris  Birkbeck,  Gilbert  T.  Pell,  his  son-in-law,  George  Flower,  and  Richard 
Flower,  his  father,  played  an  important  part  in  this  contest  in  opposition  to 
the  slavery  propagandists.  The  vigorous  and  facile  pen  of  Mr.  Birkbeck  was 
called  into  requisition,  and  his  writings  were  widely  read,  and  exercised  a 
great  influence  on  public  opinion.  In  1824,  David  Blackwell,  then  secretary- 
of-state,  resigned  his  office,  and  Gov.  Coles,  recognizing  the  services  of  Mr. 
Birkbeck  and  his  exceptional  fitness  for  the  position,  appointed  him  in  his 
place,  in  September,  1S24.  The  nomination  had  to  be  confirmed  by  the 
Senate,  and  that  body,  having  a  pro-slavery  majority,  rejected  him  on  January 
15,  1825,  he  having  held  the  office  only  three  months. 


26        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT    IX    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

sonal  intercourse  served  to  loosen  him  in  some  degree  from 
the  sect  in  which  he  was  brought  up.  Neither  did  he  in 
dress  conform  to  the  pecuhar  garb  of  the  Society.  These 
were  matters  of  deep  concern  to  the  strict  ones  of  the 
sect.  He  did  not  consider  himself  as  belonging  to  the 
Society  of  Friends,  although  I  am  not  aware  that  he  was 
ever  formally  disowned.  These  were  the  general  antece- 
dents of  Mr.  Birkbeck  before  he  left  England. 

He  embarked  with  his  family  from  the  port  of  London, 
on  board  the  ship  America,  Capt.  Heth,  in  April,  1817,  and 
arrived  at  Norfolk,  Virginia,  in  the  month  of  June,  of  the 
same  year. 

Richard  Flower,*  the  father  of  George  Flower,  resided 
for  many  years  in  Hertford,  the  county  town  of  Hertford- 
shire, twenty  miles  northeast  of  London.  There,  for  more 
than  twenty  years,  he  carried  on  rather  an  extensive  brew- 
ery. Having  obtained  a  competence,  he  retired  from  busi- 
ness, and  lived  upon  a  beautiful  estate,  called  Marden, 
which  he  purchased,  situated  three  miles  from  Hertford. 

About  this  time,  there  was  much  uneasiness  felt  b\'  all 
persons  who  had  to  do  with  agriculture  in  an\-  wa}-,  whether 
as  landlord,  tenant,  or  laborer.  The  expenses  of  carrying 
on  the  long  French  war  had  introduced  an  artificial  state 
of  things.  Heavy  taxes,  an  inflated  paper-currency,  high 
price  for  farm  produce,  were  circumstances  with  which  the 
people  of  England  had  been  so  long  familiar,  that  they 
felt  as  if  this  artificial  svstem  could  never  come  to  an 'end. 


*  Richard  Flower,  like  all  the  members  of  the  English  colony,  was  a  strong 
anti-slavery  and  anti-convention  man,  and  the  trusted  friend  and  correspond- 
ent of  Gov.  Coles. 


DEPRESSION    OF  AGRICULTURE    IN   EUROPE.  2/ 

All  this  was  changed  at  the  peace.  Tenants  could  not  pay 
their  rents;  landlords  were  straightened;  farmers  who  had 
taken  leases,  under  high  prices  of  grain,  were  losing  money 
by  wholesale.  Laborers'  wages  were  diminished;  some 
were  wholly  unemployed,  and  many  had  to  receive  paro- 
chial relief.  The  poor-rates  increased  another  tax  on  the 
already-embarrassed  farmer.  This  state  of  things,  I  have 
before  said,  produced  great  uneasiness;  and  many  farmers 
and  farm-laborers  turned  their  eyes  to  other  countries,  to 
escape  the  pressure  in  their  native  land. 

The  colonies  of  Great  Britain — Australia,  Canada,  and  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope— had  each  their  partisans,  and  emi- 
grant aid-societies.  A  regular  line  of  emigration  was  thus 
established  to  each  of  these  colonies.  France  had  many 
attractions — a  fine  climate,  an  amiable  and  courteous  peo- 
ple, and  the  distance  of  removal  short.  Land  was  cheap, 
and  a  market  at  hand;  and  just  that  deficiency  in  agricult- 
ural improvement  to  tempt  an  Englishman  to  introduce 
the  rotation  of  green  crops,  which  had  so  much  improved 
the  agriculture  of  Great  Britain.  The  old  crop-and-fallow 
system,  which  formerly  existed  in  Great  Britain,  at  that 
time  extended  all  over  France,  where  wheat  was  cultivated. 
Difference  of  language  was  one  great  objection;  but,  more 
than  all,  the  number  and  influence  of  the  military  and  the 
clergy  were,  to  persons  of  our  republican  tendencies,  deci- 
sive against  a  residence  in  France  as  civilians.  The  arbi- 
trary conduct  of  some  of  the  governors  rendered  a  resi- 
dence in  distant  colonies  somewhat  objectionable. 

To  persons  of  fastidious  political  tastes,  the  United 
States  of  North  America  seemed  to  be  the  only  country 


28        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

left  for  emigration.  What  added  much  to  the  character  of 
the  United  States,  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  of  Europe, 
was  the  judicious  choice  of  her  first  ambassadors  to  the 
courts  of  Europe.  What  must  not  that  nation  be,  that 
could  send  such  men  as  Franklin  and  Jefferson  to  France, 
Adams  and  King  to  Great  Britain.  These  eminent  men 
were  taken  as  samples  of  the  talent  and  integrity  of 
Americans,  giving  to  the  mass  of  the  Republic  a  higher 
standard  than  it  deserved.  Men  of  reading  read  all  that 
was  written  about  the  country.  The  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, the  Constitutions  of  the  United  States  and  of 
each  State,  were  among  their  reading.  In  these,  the  prin- 
ciples of  liberty  and  man's  political  equality  are  so  dis- 
tinctly recognized,  that  they  really  supposed  them  to  exist. 
They  did  not  reflect  that  a  perfect  theory  on  paper  might 
be  very  imperfectly  rendered  in  practice.  This  sometimes 
happens  in  other  things  besides  political  constitutions,  as 
the  following  truthful  anecdote  will  show: 

A  celebrated  agriculturalist  gave  a  description  in  one  of 
his  published  works  of  a  new  breed  of  pigs,  which  might 
be  kept  to  great  profit,  at  the  same  time  giving  a  detailed 
account  of  their  feeding  and  general  treatment.  A  farmer 
from  a  midland  county,  in  England,  hastened  to  London, 
to  acquire  more  precise  information,  and,  if  possible,  some 
of  the  breed.  His  knock  at  the  jdoor  was  answered  by 
the  lady  of  the  house,  who  inquired  his  business.  "She 
was  sorry  he  had  taken  the  trouble  to  come  so  far,  her 
husband  kept  no  pigs;  his  were  only  pigs  upon  paper.  He 
wrote  to  show  what  might  be  done."  The  farmer  was  left 
to  reflect  that  theorists  are  not  always  practitioners. 


EMIGRANTS   IN   AMERICA.  29 

It  must  not  be  hinted  that  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  and  the  Declaration  of  Independence  are 
ojily  pigs  upon  paper.  But  certain  it  is  that  the  great 
principles  professed  are  marred  and  controvened  by  the 
American  people.  But  a  real  liberty  is  found  in  the  coun- 
try, apart  from  all  its  political  theories.  The  practical 
liberty  of  America  is  found  in  its  great  space  and  small 
population.  Good  land  dog-cheap  everywhere,  and  for 
nothing,  if  you  will  go  far  enough  for  it,  gives  as  much 
elbow-room  to  every  man  as  he  chooses  to  take.  Poor 
laborers,  from  every  country  in  Europe,  hear  of  this  cheap 
land,  are  attracted  toward  it,  perhaps  without  any  political 
opinions.  They  come,  they  toil,  they  prosper.  This  is 
the  real  liberty  of  America.  The  people  of  America, 
north  and  south,  have  never  had  the  nerve  to  carry  the 
political  principles  on  which  their  government  was  founded 
into  practice,  and  probably  never  will. 


CHAPTER    II 


Mr.  Flower  sails  for  America  -Reflections  on  the  Voyage — Arrives 
in  New  York  and  visits  Philadelphia -Invited  to  Monticello  by 
Mr.  Jefferson — Journey  \A^estward — Visits  Dr.  Priestly,  on  the 
Susquehanna — Lost  in  the  Journey  to  Pittsburgh — From  thence 
to  Cincinnati — The  Town  as  he  found  it,  and  the  People  — The 
Neave  Family — Crosses  the  Ohio  River  and  visits  Lexington, 
and  also  Gov.  Shelby,  in  Lincoln  County — Fording  of  Dick's 
River — Hears  of  the  Illinois  Prairies  for  the  first  time — Visits 
Nashville,  Tenn. — Meets  Gen.  Jackson  at  a  Horse -Race — Goes 
with  Gen.  Ripley  in  a  Flat-boat  to  New  Orleans — Returning 
East,  visits  Mr.  Jfefferson  at  Poplar  Forest,  South-western  Vir- 
ginia— Description  of  his  House  and  his  Personal  Appearance, 
Dress,  etc. — Visits  Col.  John  Coles,  father  of  Edward  Coles,  in 
Albemarle  County — Passes  the  Winter  with  Mr.  Jefferson  at 
Monticello — At  the  Inauguration  of  Mr.  Monroe,  and  meets  Ed- 
ward Coles  for  the  first  time — Mr.  Birkbeck  and  his  Family 
arrive  at  Richmond,  from  England. 

Having  determined  to  visit  America,  I  sailed  from 
Liverpool  in  April,  1816,  in  the  Ship  Robert  Burns,  Capt. 
Parsons  of  New  York.  The  experience  of  the  Captain 
can  not  be  doubted,  for  he  had  crossed  the  Atlantic  seven- 
ty-five times  without  accident,  saving  the  loss  of  a  yard- 
arm.  We  arrived  in  New  York  fifty  days  after  leaving 
Liverpool. 

My  emigration,  or  rather  my  jonrney — for  it  had  not  at 
that  time  taken  the  decided  form  of  emigration  —  was 
undertaken  from  mixed  motives;  among  others  the  dis- 
turbed condition  of  the  farming  interest,  and  my  predelic- 
tion  in  favor  of  America  and  its  Government. 


THE  JOURNEY   AND    FAREWELL.  3 1 

Whoever  has  been  brought  up  in  the  bosom  of  an  affec- 
tionate family,  enjoying  a  fair  share  of  refinement  and 
ease,  possessing  rather  an  enthusiastic  and  sensitive  tem- 
perament, will  find  that  to  leave  his  home  and  native  land, 
perhaps  never  to  return,  is  an  impressive  and  sorrowful 
event.  Standing  alone  on  the  stern  of  the  vessel,  or  sur- 
rounded "by  unsympathizing  strangers;  carried  on  by  an 
irresistible  power  into  the  wide  waste  of  w^aters,  the  land 
of  his  birth  receding  and  sinking  out  of  sight;  desolation 
and  gloom  oppress  the  soul,  relieved  only  by  sea-sickness, 
substituting  physical  for  mental  suffering.  How  different 
the  feelings  of  a  family  party!  Kind  friends  accompany 
them  to  a  loving  farewell.  The  ship  contains  to  them  all 
that  is  cherished  and  dear.  A  ray  of  light  and  hope  illu- 
minates their  watery  way.  Landing  on  the  far-distant 
shore,  they  revel  in  all  the  allusions  of  anticipated  bliss. 
There  were  no  steamers  and  clippers  in  those  days.  In  so 
long  a  passage  as  fifty  days,  our  little  cabin -party — only 
four  of  us,  two  Englishmen  and  two  Frenchmen — at  first 
strangers,  soon  became  as  a  little  band  of  brotherhood. 
At  landing,  this  new  bond  was  broken.  Each  individual 
hastening  to  his  family  or  friends  (for  the  other  three  had 
been  in  the  United  States  before),  the  solitary  stranger  for 
a  moment  stands  alone.  The  ocean  behind,  and  a  vast 
'continent  before  him,  a  sense  of  solitude  is  then  experi- 
enced, that  has  never  been  before  and  never  will  again  be 
felt.  "BasTcracre,  sir!"  and  "what  hotel!"  restores  him  to 
the  world  and  all  its  busy  doings. 

From  New  York,  I  wrote  to  the  late  President  Jefferson, 
to  whom  I  had  a  letter  of  introduction  from  his  old  friend, 


ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 


General  LaFayette.  A  kind  and  courteous  reply  invited 
me  to  Monticcllo,  an  invitation  I  could  not  at  that  time 
accept.  At  Philadelphia,  where  I  spent  about  six  weeks, 
I  became  intimately  acquainted  with  that  most  kind- 
hearted  of  men  and  active  philanthropist,  John  Vaughan. 
The  business  of  his  life  was  to  relieve  the  distressed, 
whether  native  born  or  foreign,  and  to  give  untiring  assist- 
ance to  the  stranger,  to  aid  him  in  carrying  out  his  plans. 
To  me  he  opened  the  institutions  of  the  Cit}',  and  intro- 
duced me  to  its  best  society. 

It  was  with  him,  at  one  of  Dr.  Wistar's  evening  parties, 
that  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  LeSeur,  the  French 
naturalist.  We  little  thought  then  how  soon  we  were 
destined  to  become  neighbors  in  the  distant  West.  He 
at  Harmony,  on  the  great  W^abash,  a  place  then  but  a  few 
months  old,  and  I  at  Albion,  in  Illinois,  a  spot  neither  dis- 
covered nor  inhabited.  To  Mr.  Jeremiah  Warder  and 
family  I  am  much  indebted  for  their  cordial  hospitality 
and  considerate  kindness,  which  was  extended  to  every 
member  of  my  father's  family  after  their  arrival  two  years 
afterward. 

In  the  first  week  of  August,  1816,  I  was  mounted  on 
horseback,  pursuing  my  journey  westward.  The  first  point 
of  interest  was  the  settlement  of  Dr.  Priestly,  on  the  Sus- 
quehanna, now  known  as  Sunbury.  A  more  romantically- 
beautiful  situation  can  scarcely  be  imagined.  At  the  time 
he  made  his  settlement,  that  was  the  Far- West.  From  the 
after  discovery  of  coal-mines,  that  whole  district  of  coun- 
try has  undergone  such  a  change  as  to  be  scarcely  recog- 
nizable.    Far  beyond,  in  the  midst   of  wild   forests,  at  a 


I 


DR.   PRIESTLY  S   SETTLEMENT.  33 

settlement  forming  by  Dr.  Dew^ese  and  a  Mr.  Phillips,  an 
Englishman,  I  spent  an  agreeable  week  in  exploring  the 
heavy-wooded  district  of  hemlock  and  oak  that  bordered 
on  the  Mushanon  Creek.     Dr.  Dewese  had  built  an  elegant 
mansion,  appropriate  as  a  suburban  residence  for  a  retired 
citizen,  but  out  of  place  in  a  small  clearing  in  one  of  the 
heaviest- timbered   and  wildest   districts  of   Pennsylvania. 
But  neither  Dr.  Dewese  nor  Mr."  Phillips  were  country-bred 
men.     Their  habits  and  tastes  were  formed  in  cities;  and 
both,  I  believe,  soon  afterward  returned  to  the  city.     From 
thence  I  made  my  way  to  Pittsburgh,  through  the  wildest 
and  roughest  country  that  I  have  ever  seen  on  the  Ameri- 
can Continent.     I  was  lost  all  day  in  the  wood,  without 
road  or  path  of  any  kind,  and  a  most  exciting,  though  soli- 
tary, day  it  was  to  me.     I  climbed  the  tallest  pines,  only 
to  see  an  endless  ocean  of  tree-tops,  without  sign  of  human 
life.     Toward  night,  I  was  relieved  by  a  happy  incident. 
The  distant  tinkling  of  a  small  bell  led  me  to  the  sight  of 
a  solitary  black   mare.     Dismounting,   and  exercising  all 
my  horse-knowledge  to  give  her  confidence,   I   at  length 
induced  her  to  come  and  smell  of  my  hand.     Seizing  and 
holding  her  firmly  by  the  foretop  with  one  hand,  with  the 
other  I  shifted  the  saddle  and  bridle  from  my  horse  to  her. 
With  a  light   halter  (which   I    always   carried   round   the 
neck   of  my    riding-horse)   in   one    hand,   I    mounted   my 
estray,  and  gave  her  the  rein ;  in  half  an  hour  she  brought 
me  to  a  small  cabin  buried  in  the  forest,  no  other  cabin 
being  within  ten  miles,  and  no  road  leading  to  it.     So  ter- 
minated my  first  day's  experience  in  backwoods  forest-life. 
It  was  no  small  job  to  get  out  of  this  wild  solitude. 
3 


34        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

It  was  noon  the  next  da}'  before  I  met  a  man.  We 
greeted  each  other,  we  shook  hands,  we  fraternized.  Ah! 
poor  man;  I  should  have  passed  you  in  a  street,  or  on  a 
road,  or,  if  to  notice,  only  to  shun.  He  was  a  poor  Irish- 
man, with  a  coat  so  darned,  patched,  and  tattered  as  to  be 
quite  a  curiosity.  He  was  one  of  a  new  settlement,  a  few 
miles  off.  How  I  cherished  him.  No  angel's  visit  could 
have  pleased  me  so  well.  He  pointed  me  the  course,  and, 
what  was  more,  shewed  me  into  a  path.  I  soon  afterward 
passed  the  settlement  of  his  poor  countrymen.  A  more 
forlorn  place  could  never  be  seen. 

When  at  Pittsburgh,  to  Mr.  Thomas  Bakewell,  and 
others,  I  was  indebted  for  many  civilities.  Leaving  the 
then  town  (now  city)  of  Pittsburgh  and  its  smoke,  I 
passed  in  a  north-western  direction,  to  the  almost  -  de- 
serted town  of  Harmony,  built  by  Rapp  and  his  associates. 
The  large  brick-buidings  to  be  found  in  no  other  young 
American    town,    now   almost    uninhabited,    looked    very  £| 

desolate.  Rapp  and  his  Society  had  removed,  to  form 
their  new  settlement  of  Harmony,  on  the  Great  Wabash. 
Further  north,  in  the  Barrens  of  Ohio,  the  settlement  of 
Thomas  Rotch  (now  Kendall)  was  just  begun.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Rotch,  well-known  members  of  the  Society  of 
Friends,  were  from  Nantucket — the  Rotches  of  Nantucket 
forming  a  large  family  connection,  all  extensively  engaged 
in  the  whale-fishery.  After  spending  two  or  three  pleas- 
ant days  with  Mr.  Rotch,  I  crossed  the  State  of  Ohio 
diagonally,  in  a  south-west  direction,  passing  through 
Cochocton  and  Chillicothe,  to  Cincinnati.  This  route 
led   me  through  the  then   celebrated   Pickaway  Plains — 


PICKAWAY   PLAINS — CINCINNATI.  35 

SO  named  from  tlie  Pickaway  Indians,  whose  town  and 
chief  settlement  was  placed  thereon.  A  level  prairie, 
about  seven  miles  long  and  three  broad,  bounded  by  lofty 
timber,  and  covered  with  verdure,  must  have  presented  a 
grateful  prospect  in  Indian  times.  Occupied  by  the  white 
man,  covered  with  a  heavy  crop  of  ripe  corn,  disfigured 
by  zigzag  fences,  it  now  gave  no  inviting  appearance.  A 
narrow  road,  in  some  places  deep  in  mud,  ran  the  length 
of  the  plain.  The  little  town  of  Jefferson  (so  called)  was 
nothing  more  than  half-a-dozen  log- cabins,  interspersed 
with  coniycribs.  Not  a  garden,  nor  a  decent  house,  nor  a 
sober  man  to  be  found  in  the  place.  Although  I  had 
made  my  sixty  miles  that  day,  and  the  sun  was  setting, 
I  pushed  on  without  dismounting  six  miles  further,  to 
Chillicothe,  situated  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Scioto 
River.  In  crossing  the  river  that  night,  not  being  aware 
of  its  size,  and  not  knowing  the  ford,  my  journey  had  well- 
nigh  found  a  watery  termination.  Sometimes  swimming 
and  sometimes  wading,  I  was  long  in  great  jeopardy. 
At  length,  arriving  safely  on  the  other  shore,  I  was  well 
prepared  by  sixteen  hours  of  almost  continuous  riding, 
for  supper  and  a  sound  night's  rest. 

Cincinnati,  then  a  town  of  five  or  six  thousand  inhabi- 
tants, rapidly  increasing  and  incumbered  with  materials 
for  building,  presented  no  very  attractive  appearance.  In 
a  small  cabin,  on  the  bank  of  the  Ohio,  about  two  miles 
above  Cincinnati,  were  living  two  young  men,  brothers, 
with  an  aged  and  attached  female  who  had  been  their 
nurse,  and  now  kept  their  house.  Mr.  Donaldson,  their 
father,  had   retired   from    the   English   bar,  to   a   farm    in 


36        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS    COUNTY. 


Wales,  his  two  sons  and  their  faithful  nurse  had  emigrated 
to  America.  I  was  requested,  before  leaving  England,  to 
see  them  if  possible,  and  here  I  found  them.  With  Dr. 
Drake,  then  a  young  man,  afterward  a  celebrated  physi- 
cian, I  became  acquainted;  1  had  boarded  with  his  sisters 
in  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Jeremiah  Neave,  a  friend  of  Mr. 
Birkbeck,  was  at  the  time  a  well-known  citizen  of  Cincin- 
nati. We  became  acquainted.  He  gave  me  the  hospi- 
talities of  his  house.  Mr.  Neave,  although  a  Quaker,  was 
most  ultra  in  his  politics.  An  English  Democrat,  born  in 
the  political  hot-bed  of  the.  French  Revolution,  he  partook 
of  the  violent  partizanship  of  those  times.  Against  kings 
and  priests  he  bore  a  sore  grudge.  The  family  of  Mr. 
Neave  have  long  since  grown  up,  and  are  prominent  and 
influential  citizens  of  Cincinnati. 

At  this  time  I  could  learn  nothing  of  the  prairies;  not 
a  person  that  I  saw  knew  anything  about  them.  I  had 
read  of  them  in  Imlay's  work,  and  his  vivid  description 
had  struck  me  forcibly.  All  the  country  that  I  had  passed 
through  was  heavily  timbered.  I  shrank  from  the  idea  of 
settling  in  the  midst  of  a  wood  of  heavy  timber,  to  hack 
and  hew  my  way  to  a  little  farm,  ever  bounded  by  a  wall 
of  gloomy  forest. 

Crossing  the  State  of  Kentucky  to  Lexington,  I  was 
much  attracted  by  the  beauty  of  the  blue -grass  farms. 
In  my  short  stay  at  Lexington,  I  became  acquainted 
with  Dr.  Short,  Mr.  Trotter,  and  Mr.  Saunders, —  the 
latter  an  earnest  and  enterprising  speculator  and  spirited 
farmer  and  introducer  of  improved  stock.  From  Lex- 
ington   I    went    into    Lincoln    County,    to    see    Governor 


SWIMMING   DICK  S   RIVER.  3/ 

Shelby.  Before  reaching  his  residence  I  had  to  cro.ss 
Dick's  River.  This  was  a  pecuh'ar  stream,  unHke  any 
other  that  I  had  crossed.  It  ran  over  a  bed  of  Hme- 
stone  boulders  as  rapidly  as  a  mill-race,  and  the  ford 
was  a  curve,  to  be  traced  only  by  the  eye  of  the  stranger? 
by  the  deeper  boiling  of  the  water  over  its  rough  and 
rocky  bottom.  I  met  a  man,  three  miles  from  the  ford, 
who  gave  me  warning  of  its  force,  and  of  its  deep  and 
drowning  water  on  either  hand  if  I  missed  the  ford.  I 
hesitated,  fearing  for  the  steadiness  of  my  nerves.  My 
head  swims  in  rapid  water;  and  I  can  not  tell  whether  I 
am  going  up  stream  or  down.  I  cautiously  entered,  keep- 
ing rather  a  tight  rein  on  my  little  nag ;  a  precaution 
unnecessary,  perhaps;  for  to  turn  round  was  impossible 
when  once  in  that  rush  of  water.  The  water  was  soon 
over  my  saddle-bow,  while  the  haunches  of  my  horse 
were  higher  than  his  withers.  Another  step  and  the 
pomel  of  my  saddle  was  dry,  but  the  water  was  running 
over  my  crupper.  In  this  way  we  slowly  and  hazardously 
went,  the  water  beating  hard  against  us  the  whole  time. 
We  came  out  safely  it  is  true;  but  I  confess  to  have  felt 
more  fear,  and  exhaustion  from  fear,  than  at  any  other 
period  in  all  my  journeyings.  But  the  fording  of  streams 
great  and  small  is  among  my  most  disagreeable  experi- 
ences in  American  horseback-travel.  It  did  impress  me 
strongly  no  doubt ;  for  to  this  period  of  my  life  the  dark 
and  rushing  water  of  Dick's  River  occasionally  troubles 
me  in  my  dreams. 

Governor  Shelby  settled  in  the  place  he  then  occupied 
when  it  was  a  canebrake,  and  the  buffalo  all  around  him. 


38        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

Old  Governor  Shelby  was  a  decided  character — an  honest, 
hasty  man,  somewhat  hot-headed.  He  commanded  the 
Kentucky  horse- volunteers  during  the  War  of  i8i2.  Gen- 
eral Harrison  was  explaining"  to  his  officers  the  tactics  to 
be  observed  at  an  approaching  engagement.  "I  know 
nothing  about  your  tactics,"  said  old  Shelby,  "but  show  me 
the  enemy,  and  my  boys  shall  whip  him."  It  was  at  Gov- 
ernor Shelby's  house  that  I  met  the  first  person  who  con- 
firmed me  in  the  existence  of  the  prairies.  It  was  Mr. 
Shelby's  brother.  He  had  just  come  from  some  point  on 
the  Mississippi,  across  the  prairies  of  Illinois  to  the  Ohio 
River,  about  Shawneetown. 

This  was  enough;  I  felt  assured  of  where  they  were, 
and  that,  w^hen  sought  for,  they  could  be  found.  It  was 
then  too  late  in  the  season  for  me  to  go  to  explore  them. 
It  was  now  the  last  week  in  October,  and  I  could  not 
expect  to  see  them  other  than  as  a  mass  of  burnt  ground, 
or  covered  with  snow.  So  I  decided  to  proceed  with  my 
journey  southward  and  eastward,  and  endeavor  to  reach 
Poplar  Forest,  a  possession  of  Mr.  Jefferson's,  on  the  west- 
ern frontier  of  Virginia,  before  Christmas.  A  few  days 
more  and  I  was  at  Nashville,  the  capital  of  Tennessee. 
Before  going  to  Nashville,  I  swerved  to  the  right  to  get  a 
peep  at  the  Mammoth  Cave,  some  of  the  wonders  of  which 
were  just  beginning  to  be  talked  about.  The  country 
about  it  was  uninhabited  and  wild.  Mr.  Miller,  the  only 
small  farmer  near,  went  with  me  there  with  half-a-dozen 
candles  in  his  hand.  We  had  not  traveled  more  than  a 
hundred  yards  before  I  was  satisfied  with  my  exploration. 
I  saw  enough  of  the  nature  of  the  rock  to  understand  the 


NASHVILLE— GEN.  JACKSON.  39 

possibility  of  its  extent.  I  had  no  wish  to  disturb  the 
millions  of  bats  that  were  hanging  over  our  heads,  with 
our  slender  provisions  for  exploration.  The  accounts  of  its 
extent  were  not  generally  credited  at  that  time  in  America; 
and,  upon  my  return  to  England,  I  was  asked  by  well- 
informed  men  whether  Americans  were  not  playing  on 
the  credulity  of  Europeans. 

Approaching  the  town  of  Nashville,  my  horse  showed 
unusual  signs  of  sprightliness.  With  head  and  tail  erect, 
he  went  with  a  bounding  step,  and  seemed  to  recog- 
nize the  spot.  A  negro  boy  rode  up  to  my  side,  and 
said:  "Sir,  where  did  you  get  that  horse.'"  "At  Phila- 
delphia, a  place  a  long  way  off.  Do  you  know  the 
horse  ? "  "  Lors,  yes."  He  belonged  to  Major  some- 
body, I  forget  the  name,  who  rode  him  East,  the  year 
before,  and  sold  him.  When  at  Nashville,  some  periodical 
race  came  off.  I  rode  out  with  the  crowd  to  the  course. 
Generals  Ripley  and  Jackson  were  pointed  out  to  me;  the 
former  of  fair  complexion  and  light  hair,  rather  a  young 
man,  carrying  his  head  stiffly  from  a  wound  in  the  neck; 
the  latter  an  older  man,  lean  and  lank,  bronzed  in  com- 
plexion, deep-marked  countenance,  grizzly-gray  hair,  and 
a  restless  and  fiery  eye.  Jackson  had  a  horse  on  the 
course,  which  was  beaten  that  day.  General  Jackson  was 
a  whole  man  in  anything  he  undertook.  He  was  a  horse- 
racer  that  day,  and  thoroughly  he  played  his  part.  The 
recklessness  of  his  bets,  his  violent  gesticulations  and  im- 
precations outdid  all  competition.  If  I  had  then  been 
told  that  he  was  to  be  a  future  president  of  the  United 
States,  I   should    have  thought  it  a  very  strange  thing. 


.^._^_  •^■■■i^i^Bi^HiHHBBttii^kiaMMliM 


40        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

Years  afterward,  when  I  knew  him  an  older  and,  I  pre- 
sume, a  wiser  man,  I  often  thought  of  the  scenes  in  which 
my  first  impressions  of  him  were  made. 

I  was  some  da}'s  in  doubt  whether  to  accept  the  invita- 
tion of  General  Ripley  to  accompany  him  in  his  flat-boat, 
then  prepared  to  take  him  and  his  staff  to  New  Orleans. 
He  proposeci  that,  after  reaching  New  Orleans,  I  should 
visit  the  prairies  of  Oppelousas,  and  that,  should  I  return 
to  Virginia,  I  should  do  so  by  way  of  the  Choctaw  'and 
Chickasaw  nations,  in'  Mississippi  and  Alabama,  over  the 
tract  that  the  Abbe  Raynal  had  formerly  traveled.  The 
offer  was  tempting,  but  I  decided  to  make  my  visit  to  Mr. 
Jefferson.  A  cold  wind  and  a  slight  fall  of  snow  warned 
me  that  there  was  no  time  to  be  lost  in  passing  the  Ten- 
nessee Mountains.  I  fell  in  with  a  party  of  four  Virginia 
planters  and  a  North-Carolina  doctor,  returning  homeward 
from  an  excursion  into  Missouri.  We  traversed  the  State 
of  Tennessee  at  a  rapid  rate  from  west  to  east,  and  entered 
the  western  part  of  Virginia  the  latter  part  of  November. 
A  part  of  the  region  we  traveled  w'as  mountainous,  and,  in 
a  great  degree,  peopled  by  a  very  poor  and,  a  portion  of 
them,  a  very  bad  description  of  people.  But  a  few  years 
previous,  it  was  the  resort  of  notorious  robbers  and  cut- 
throats. 

One  fellow,  I  think  named  Harp,  was  the  terror  of  the 
country.  The  governor  offered  fifty  dollars  for  his  head. 
After  many  ineffectual  attempts  at  capture,  in  a  death- 
struggle  with  a  man  as  desperate  as  himself.  Harp's  foot 
slipped.  He  fell  with  his  adversary  upon  him,  who,  taking 
advantage  of  his  position,  cut  off  his  head  with  his  butcher- 


THE   JOURNEY — CRITICAL   POSITION.  41 

knife,  put  it  into  his  saddle-bags,  rode  off  with  it  to  the 
governor,  claimed  and  got  his  reward.  Even  at  the  time 
of  my  journey,  a  traveler  was  occasionally  missed. 

After  our  second  day's  journey,  we  stopped  for  the  night 
at  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  at  a  place  of  very  suspicious 
appearance.  The  men  of  the  house  had  not  the  right  look 
with  them.  There  appeared  to  be  no  one  ostensible  land- 
lord. We  observed  four  different  men,  who  came  in  during 
the  evening,  eyeing  us  carefully  and  exchanging  but  few 
words.  The  wretched  negroes  were  in  rags,  and  their 
every  movement  indicated  marked  fear  and. dread.  The 
white  woman,  so  called,  that  poured  out  the  coffee,  in 
appearance  and  demeanor,  seemed  to  occupy  no  higher 
position  than  the  negroes.  A  stack  of  eight  rifles,  occupy- 
ing a  corner  of  the  room,  were  one  by  one  withdrawn 
during  the  evening.  The  long  shed-like  room  we  occupied 
was  left  for  travelers;  the  family  or  company  of  discrcdit- 
ables  that  occupied  this  establishmfcnt  living  apart  in 
cabins  at  a  distance  from  the  travelers'  room.  I  laid  down 
in  my  clothes,  doubling  up  my  coat  and  putting  it  under 
my  pillow,  as  my  custom  was,  resolved  to  keep  watch 
during  the  night.  My  companions  (one  or  other  of  them) 
were  awake  until  morning. 

One  after  the  other,  each  of  our  hosts  (if  they  might  be 
so  called)  dropped  in  on  some  pretence,  and  soon  went  out 
again.  We  were  watching  and  being  watched,  and  I  think 
each  party  was  conscious  of  the  fact.  But  nature  would 
not  entirely  resign  her  dues.  It  is  hard  to  keep  awake  a 
whole  night,  after  a  day's  fatigue  on  horseback.  Before 
morning  I  was  in  a  sound  sleep,  from  which  I  was  aroused 


42        ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

by  my  companions  for  an  early  start,  as  they  said  aloud. 
As  our  bill  had  been  paid  the  night  before,  nothing  hin- 
dered us  from  going  to  the  stable  for  our  horses.  Not  one 
of  them  had  touched  their  oats  or  corn.  They  looked 
badly,  and  one  came  out  rather  lame  in  a  hind  leg.  The 
mountain  road  was  steep.  The  morning's  mist  did  not 
permit  us  to  see  ten  steps  before  us.  Our  progress  at  first 
was  necessarily  slow,  and  made  slower  by  the  lameness  of 
one  of  the  horses.  When  at  a  sufficient  distance,  we  made 
a  general  halt.  After  a  whispered  consultation  by  my 
companions,  the  doctor,  as  he  was  called  (as  much  a  horse 
as  human  doctor  from  his  appearance),  examined  the  lame 
horse,  and  pronounced  him  "string  cress'd."  This  opera- 
tion is  performed  by  taking  a  thread  of  silk  or  a  long  hair 
from  a  horse's  tail  and  tying  it  rather  tight  around  the  ten- 
der  part  of  the  fetlock,  just  over  the  hoof,  but  under  the 
short  hairs  that  drop  over  the  crown  of  the  hoof,  and  in 
this  way  the  thread  is  concealed.  Inflammation  accom- 
panied by  lameness  speedily  ensues.  The  doctor  said  the 
horse  had  been  cress'd,  but  the  string  had  been  taken  off 
before  leaving  the  stable. '  From  this  time  onward,  we  were 
on  the  lookout,  and  kept  close  order.  When  beyond  the 
distance  of  apprehended  danger,  our  tongues  were  loosened, 
and   many   stories   of  robberies   and    murders   were    told.  | 

The  horses  not  eating  was  accounted  for  by  their  teeth 
being  greased,  which,  it  is  said,  will  effectually  prevent  a 
horse  from  eating.  I  had  traveled  a  thousand  miles  alone; 
I  now  felt  satisfied  with  company.  The  road  was  moun- 
tainous and  rocky,  the  accommodations  bad,  and  the  peo- 
ple uneducated,  and  frequently  intemperate — in  short   of 


POPLAR   FOREST — MR.  JEFFERSON.  43 

the  class  called  "poor  whites,"  although  many  were  not 
without  means.  We  entered  the  State  of  Virtrinia  at 
Abington.  I  found  Mr.  Jefferson  at  his  Poplar  -  Forest 
estate,  in  the  western  part  of  the  State  of  Virginia.  His 
house  was  built  after  the  fashion  of  a  French  chateau. 
Octagon  rooms,  floors  of  polished  oak,  lofty  ceilings,  large 
mirrors,  betokened  his  French  taste,  acquired  by  his  long 
residence  in  France.  Mr.  Jefferson's  figure  was  rather 
majestic:  tall  (over  six  feet),  thin,  and  rather  high-shoul- 
dered; manners,  simple,  kind,  and  courteous.  His  dress, 
in  color  and  form,  was  quaint  and  old-fashioned,  plain  and 
neat — a  dark  pepper-and-salt  coat,  cut  in  the  old  quaker 
fashion,  with  a  single  row  of  large  metal  buttons,  knee- 
breeches,  gray-worsted  stockings,  shoes  fastened  b}'  large 
metal  buckles — such  was  the  appearance  of  Jefferson  when 
I  first  made  his  acquaintance,  in  1816.  His  two  grand- 
daughters—  Misses  Randolph — well-educated  and  accom- 
plished young  ladies,  were  staying  with  him  at  the  time. 

After  a  brief  stay  at  Poplar  Forest,  I  proceeded  to  the 
house  of  Col.  John  Coles,  in  Albemarle  County.  Messrs. 
Isaac  and  Walter  Coles,  brothers,  lived  with  him.  Mr. 
Edward  Coles,  the  youngest  brother,  was  then  in  England, 
forming  an  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Birkbeck.  The  sister. 
Miss  Coles,  had  just  been  married.  Her  husband,  Mr. 
Stevenson,  then  a  young  lawyer,  afterward  minister  to 
Great  Britain,  was  then  on  a  bridal  visit.* 

*  Col.  John  Coles  was  an  officer  of  the  Revolution,  and  belonged  to  the 
highest  type  of  the  old-school  Virginians.  At  his  plantation,  called  Ennis- 
corthy,  he  dispensed  a  liberal  and  generous  hospitality,  and  he  had,  among 
his  guests,  many  of  the  most  distinguished  citizens  of  the  Commonwealth  in 
that  day.     His  oldest  son,  Isaac  Coles,  was  the  private-secretary  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 


44 


ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 


The  greater  part  of  the  winter  I  passed  at  Monticello, 
the  permanent  residence  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  Albemarle 
County.  The  chief  charm  of  the  visit  was  in  the  ev-enino- 
conversations  with  Mr.  Jefferson,"  wlio  gave  me  the  inner 

son,  during  his  two  terms  of  the  presidency,  and  his  brother,  Edward  Coles, 
subsequently  governor  of  Illinois,  was  for  six  years  the  private  secretary  of 
Mr.  Madison.  Enniscorthy  is  on  the  Green  Mountains,  in  Albemarle  County, 
about  fifteen  miles  from  Charlottesville,  the  county  seat.  The  whole  surround- 
ing country  is  beautiful,  and,  at  the  epoch  of  Mr.  P^lower's  visit,  the  neighbor- 
ing plantations  were  in  the  highest  state  of  cultivation.  The  proprietors  were 
generally  men  of  wealth,  education,  and  refinement,  who  devoted  themselves 
to  agriculture,  con  amore.  The  large  and  elegant  mansion  on  the  Estouteville 
plantation,  adjoining  Enniscorthy,  was  planned  and  built  by  Mr.  Nelson,  the 
architect  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  brought  out  from  England  by  Mr. 
Jefferson,  'i  he  attention  of  the  visitor  to  Enniscorthy  is  attracted  by  a  small 
cemetery,  in  which  were  buried  many  members  of  the  Coles'  family.  Here 
also  repose  the  remains  of  Andrew  Stevenson,  the  speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  for  eight  years,  and  afterward  minister  to  Great  Britain.*  His 
second  wife  was  Sarah  Coles,  the  daughter  of  Col.  John  Coles  and  sister  of 
Gov.  Edward  Coles,  a  lady  of  remarkable  beauty  and  accomplishments.  Hon. 
John  White  Stevenson,  ex-governor  and  ex-United  States  senator  from  Ken- 
tucky, is  the  son  of  Andrew  Stevenson. 

*  Nothing  can  be  more  interesting  than  the  life-like  sketch  of  Mr.  Jefferson 
as  Mr.  Flower  first  saw  him,  in  1816,  at  Poplar  Forest.  Mr.  Jefferson 
was  passionately  fond  of  agriculture,  and  never  so  thoroughly  happy  as  when 
overlooking  his  plantations.  His  large  possessions  at  Monticello  did  not  seem 
to  satisfy  him,  and  he  purchased  an  estate  in  Bedford  County,  which  he  called 
Poplar  Forest,  and  which  was  but  a  short  distance  east  of  Lynchburg. 
The  visit  to  Monticello  of  Mr.  Flower,  with  his  rare  intelligence,  his  literary 
tastes,  and  his  knowledge  of  men  and  things  in  Europe,  must  have  been  in- 
teresting to  both  parties.  It  is  melancholy  to  reflect  on  the  changes  which 
have  taken  place  at  Monticello  since  Mr.  Flower's  visit  in  1S16-7.  That 
home,  of  the  "author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  statute  of 
Virginia  for  religious  freedom,  and  the  father  of  the  University  of  Virginia," 
known  the  world  over  almost  as  widely  as  Mount  \'ernon,  has  gone  into  the 
hands  of  strangers,  and  fallen  into  ruin  and  decay.  Persons  from  distant 
States  and  countries,  holding  the  memory  of  Mr.  Jefferson  in  reverence  and 
affection,  in  visiting  Monticello,  now  find^the  house  which  he  built,  and  in 
which  he  lived  and  died,  closed  to  all  comers. 

*  Personal  observation. 


I 


AT   WASHINGTON — BIRKBECK  S   ARRIVAL.  45 

history  of  events,  before  only  known  to  me,  as  to  the 
world  generally,  in  the  published  records  or  outside  history, 
which  is  all  that  the  public  is  generally  allowed  to  see, 
I  was  much  attracted  by  the  features  of  the  country,  and 
by  the  climate  of  Western  Virginia.  But  the  brand  of 
slavery  was  upon  the  land.  Dilapidated  fences,  decaying 
homesteads,  worn-out  land  everywhere  met  the  eye,  giving 
an  uninviting  aspect  to  a  country  perhaps  more  favored 
by  nature  thkn  any  other  portion  of  the  Union. 

Early  in  the  spring,  I  was  present  at  the  inauguration  of 
James  Monroe  as  president  of  the  United  States.  At 
the  house  of  Mr.  Madison,  I  saw,  for  the  first  time,  Mr. 
Edward  Coles,  who  had  just  returned  from  Great  Britain. 
I  again  returned  to  Philadelphia,  after  a  nine-months'  ab- 
sence, having  accomplished  a  journey  of  two  thousand 
miles,  without  loss  of  health  or  accident,  and  without  dis- 
turbance or  dispute  with  any  human  being.  I  was  staying 
with  my  friends  at  Philadelphia,  in  some  doubt  whether  to 
return  to  England  or  to  remain  a  while  longer  and  see 
something  more.  I  had  almost  decided  to  return,  when  I 
unexpectedly  received  a  letter  informing  me  of  the  arrival 
of  Mr.  Birkbeck  and  his  family  at  Richmond.  From  my 
numerous  acquaintance,  Philadelphia  had  become  my 
American  home.  It  is  one  of  the  painful  experiences  of  a 
traveler  to  be  torn,  perhaps  forever,  from  new  friends,  from 
whom  he  has  received  many  civilities  and  much  kindness. 
It  is  like  tearing  up  a  plant  that  has  just  taken  fresh  root. 
There  were,  staying  in  I'hiladelphia,  two  young  men,  one 
from  Norfolk,  England,  another  from  London,  who  in- 
tended to  go  Westward  with  me,  should   I  so  decide;  but, 


46        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTV 


during  the  winter,  tiieir  destinations  were  altered.  One 
had  received  an  army  appointment  in  the  East-Indies,  the 
other  to  fill  some  situation  in  Australia.  We  all  three 
walked  together  to  the  wharf.  The  bells  of  the  steam- 
boats, as  they  simultaneously  struck  their  warning  for 
departure,  were  to  us  the  knell-note  of  a  life-long  separa- 
tion. We  shook  each  other  by  the  hand  for  the  last  time. 
I  stepped  on  board  the  Baltimore  boat,  they  on  board  the 
one  bound  for  New  York;  and  we  were  lost  to  each  other 
forever  more  in  this  world.  My  first  solitary  journey  was 
now  ended,  and  a  new  experience  in  travel  about  to  begin. 


CHAPTER    III. 

Joins  Mr.  Birkbeck  and  Family  in  Richmond,  Va. —  Miss  Andrews, 
afterward  Mrs.  Flower — Decides  to  go  Westward  from  Richmond 
— Incidents  of  the  Trip — Meets  with  Mr.  Sloo,  U.  S.  Land-Officer 
at  Shawneetown,  who  conducts  the  Party  to  Illinois — They  stop 
at  Gen.  Harrison's,  at  North  Bend  —  At  Vincennes  —  "Painted 
Warriors,  Bedecked  Squaws,  and  Bedizened  Pappooses" — Mr. 
Birkbeck's  Daughters  and  Miss  Andrews  —  Difficuities  of  the 
Journey  bravely  met — Mr.  Birkbeck  proposes  Marriage  to  Miss 
Andrews  —  Offer  Declined  —  Leads  to  Unpleasant  Results  —  The 
•  Party  first  Establishes  itself  at  Princeton,  Indiana — A  Visit  to 
the  Shaker  Settlement  at  Busro  —  Account  of  the  French-Cana- 
dian Settlement  at  Cattinet  —  Birkbeck  and  Flower  start  out  in 
Search  of  the  "Prairies" — Pass  through  New  Harmony,  George 
Rapp's  Colony  —  Description  of  the  Place  —  Cross  the  Wabash 
and  enter  the  Territory  of  Illinois,  and  reach  the  "  Big-Prairie  " 
Settlement — "  Boltenhouse  Prairie,"  a  Beautiful  Sight — Crossing 
the  Wabash  into  Illinois  Territory — Hard  Ride  to  Birk's  Prairie 
— The  Prairie  Flies  —  Captain  Birk,  a  Specimen  Pioneer — His 
Cabin  and  his  Family — Intense  Prejudice  against  the  British — 
Journey  Continued  —  Reflections  on  the  Pioneers  —  Long  Prairie 
reached,  where  the  English  Settlement  was  afterward  made  — 
Return  to  Princeton  —  Timber-land  around  Boltenhouse  Prairie 
entered  at  Shawneetown  —  Mr.  Birkbeck  to  remain  and  Mr- 
Flower  to  return  to  England  to  procure  more  Funds  and  beat 
up  for  Recruits — The  Decision  made. 

At  Richmond,  I  joined  Mr.  Birkbeck  and  his  family, 
composed  of  nine  individuals.  Himself  aged  about  fifty- 
four,  his  second  son,  Bradford,  a  youth  of  sixteen,  his  third 
son,  Charles,  a  lad  of  fourteen,  a  little  servant -boy,  "Gil- 


48        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

lard  ",  who  had  lived  with  Mr.  Birkbeck  all  his  life,  about 
thirteen  years  old,  and  with  the  party  was  a  cousin  of 
mine,  and  of  my  age — twenty-nine,  Mr.  lilias  Pym  Ford- 
ham.  Of  the  females,  Miss  Eliza  Birkbeck  was  nineteen, 
Miss  Prudence  Birkbeck,  sixteen,  and  Miss  Eliza  Julia 
Andrews,  twenty-five. 

Miss  Andrews  (now  Mrs.  Flower)  was  the  second  daugh- 
ter of  Rev.  Mordicah  Andrews  of  Eigeshall,  in  the  county 
of  Essex,  England.  There  was  great  friendship  between 
the  members  of  Mr.  Birkbeck's  family  and  Miss  Andrews, 
and,  latterly,  she  stood  almost  in  the  relation  of  an  elder 
daughter.  Being  on  a  visit  to  Wanborough,  at  the  time 
Mr.  Birkbeck  decided  on  emigrating  to  America,  she  con- 
sented to  accompany  them,  and  under  his  protection  to 
share  the  adventures  that  awaited  them  in  the  new  world. 
A  little  orphan  girl,  Elizabeth  Garton,  completes  the  list 
of  Mr.  Birkbeck's  family  in  America,  and  with  me  added 
to  them  made  up  the  party  that  made  their  way  into 
Illinois. 

These  were  the  original  band  of  explorers.  Of  this  party 
thus  composed  forty  years  ago,  but  one  is  now  living  in  the 
Settlement — the  little  poor  boy  (now  old  man  with  large 
family  and  independent  property)  Gillard.  Yet,  consider- 
ing the  length  of  time,  the  many  risks  and  dangers  they 
encountered,  a  large  proportion  of  this  little  band  are 
living.  Three  are  dead,  seven  are  living  and  widely  scat- 
tered :  one  in  England,  two  in  Mexico,  one  in  Australia, 
two  in  Indiana,  and  one  in  Illinois.  Turning  our' eyes 
from  the  scattered  remnant  now  standing  on  the  four 
cjuarters  of  the  globe,  we  will  proceed  on  our  journey. 


GOING   WESTWARD.  49 

After  consultation,  we  decided  to  go  westward,  exactly 
where  was  uncertain.  The  journey  to  Pittsburgh  by 
stage  was  a  rough  affair,  in  those  days.  But  rough  as  it 
was  the  convenience  of  a  stage-coach  was  to  be  found  no 
farther.  From  some  accident  to  the  stage,  the  whole 
party  were  obliged  to  walk  twelve  miles  into  Pittsburgh. 
By  descending  the  river  Ohio  in  an  "Ark",  we  should  see 
nothing  of  the  country,  and  we  had  no  fixed  point  to  go 
to.  It  was  from  this  point  that  our  journey  of  exploration 
may  have  said  to  have  begun.  Each  individual  of  our 
party  of  ten  was  to  be  furnished  with  a  horse  and  its 
equipments.  An  underblanket  for  the  horse,  a  large 
blanket  on  the  seat  of  the  saddle  for  the  rider,  a  pair  of 
well-filled  saddle-bags,  all  secured  by  a  surcingle,  a  great- 
coat or  cloak,  with  umbrella  strapped  behind,  completed 
the  appointments  for  each  person.  The  purchase  of  the 
horses  devolved  upon  me.  In  three  days  I  had  them  all 
mounted.  Imagine  our  cavalcade  performing  its  journey 
day  by  day  across  the  then  wilderness  states  of  Ohio  and 
Indiana. 

The  omens  of  our  first  day's  journey  were  not  auspi- 
cious. Crossing  a  bridge  made  of  large  logs,  over  a  creek 
emptying  into  the  Ohio  River,  one  of  the  logs  was  missing, 
leaving  a  gap  nearly  two  feet  wide,  showing  the  water 
twenty  feet  below.  My  horse,  young  and  inexperienced, 
leaped  high  and  fell,  rolling  over  me,  and  falling  into  the 
Ohio  River,  twenty  feet  below.  She  went  down  out  of 
sight.  In  a  few  seconds  she  rose  again,  and  with  some 
difficulty,  was  saved  from  drowning  and  secured,  with  no 
other  loss  than  a  broken 'umbrella  and  a  soaking  to  the 

4 


50        ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

contents  of  the  saddle-bags.  Farther  on,  Bradford  Birk- 
beck's  horse  took  fright  and  ran  furiously  with  him 
through  the  woods,  endangering  Hfe  and  hmb  of  the  rider. 
Luckily  the  girths  broke  and  spilled  everything,  -leaving 
the  rider,  fortunately,  with  whole  bones,  but  with  some 
bruises. 

The  regular  days'  journey,  steadily  pursued,  soon  broke 
in  both  horse  and  rider.  In  fine  weather  and  hard  roads, 
it  was  very  pleasant,  no  remarkable  fatigue  felt,  the  party 
kept  well  together,  chatting  agreeably  by  the  way.  At 
other  times,  from  excessive  heat  or  some  atmospheric 
change,  a  general  languor  prevarled,  and  some  dropped 
behind  at  a  slower  pace.  The  party  would  be  sometimes 
strung  out,  one  behind  the  other,  for  three  or  four  miles. 
The  horses,  too,  became  spiritless  and  dull,  so  as  to  require 
a  touch  of  the  whip  or  spur.  On  such  occasions,  nothing 
brought  us  into  order  like  a  loud  clap  of  thunder  and  a 
drenching  shower  of  rain.  The  privations  on  the  journey 
were  many.  The  taverns,  as  they  were  called,  but,  in 
reality,  often  mere  shanties,  were  sometimes  destitute  of 
either  door  or  window,  affording  only  a  place  on  the  floor 
to  spread  cloak  or  blanket.  The  hot  sun,  the  sudden 
storms,  accompanied  by  torrents  of  rain,  thunder  and  light- 
ning, dangers  imminent  from  crossing  swollen  and  rapid 
streams  were  incidents  of  travel,  borne  not  only  with  equa- 
nimity but  cheerfulness  by  every  member  of  the  party. 
So  the  journey  wore  along. 

At    Cincinnati,  we   were   entertained   in   the  hospitable 
house  of  Mr.  Jeremiah  Neave.     Before  leaving  the  city,  we. 
became  acquainted  with  a  Mr.  Sloo,  register  of  the  newly- 


INCIDENTS   OF   THE   JOURNEY.  5  I 

opened  land-office  at  Shavvneetown,  in  the  Territory  of  Illi- 
nois. He  gave  us  a  more  distinct  account  of  the  prairies 
in  his  land-district.  He  was  going  to  Illinois  on  horseback, 
and  offered  to  accompany  and  conduct  us  there.  By  his 
advice,  we  added  a  pack-horse  to  our  already-numerous 
train;  for  the  journey  through  the  wilderness  of  Indiana 
would  be  attended  by  more  discomforts  than  the  track 
through  Ohio  from  Pittsburgh  to  Cincinnati.  Our  first 
halt,  after  leaving  the  city,  was  at  the  house  of  a  friend  of 
Mr.  Sloo's,  at  North-Bend — General  Harrison.  I  thought 
it  rather  a  cool  proceeding  to  introduce  such  a  strong 
party  of  strangers  to  the  house  and  family  of  an  absent 
friend.  The  pack-horse  was  long  in  arriving.  Bradford 
had  his  difficulties;  the  pack  turned  in  the  streets  of  Cin- 
cinnati, dropping  a  blanket  here  and  a  coffee-pot  there,  the 
horse  walking  on  with  the  greatest  indifference,  with  the 
pack  swinging  under  his  belly,  strewing  its  contents  from 
one  end  of  the  street  to  the  other,  to  the  mirth  of  the 
spectators  and  amid  the  jeers  and  jibes  of  all  the  urchins 
of  the  place.  Perseverance  conquers  all  things.  Bradford 
gathered  up  his  traps  and  joined  us  late  at  North-Bend. 
We  were  very  kindly  received  by  Mrs.  Harrison,  and  took 
our  departure  the  next  day.  Cabins  now  became  more 
distant  to  each  other,  roads  deep  in  black  mud,  the  forest 
more  unbroken,  dark,  and  gloomy.  The  additional  blank- 
ets and  food  on  the  pack-horse  were  often  needed.  About 
two-thirds  of  the  way  across  Indiana,  the  road  forked. 
Mr.  Sloo  took  the  southern  road,  pointing  to  the  lower 
ferry  on  the  Wabash,  leading  to  Shawneetown.  We  con- 
tinued due  west  on  the  road  to  Vincennes. 


52        ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

One  sultry  evening,  when  in  the  deep  forest,  with  our 
Hne  extended  for  two  or  three  miles,  black  clouds  suddenly 
gathered  up,  extinguishing  what  light  there  was.  Thun- 
der, lightning,  and  rain  descended  and  continued,  accom- 
panied by  violent  wind.  The  storm  came  so  suddenly 
that  the  stragglers  in  the  rear  were  driven  into  the 
woods,  and  there  had  to  stay.  Myself  and  three  or  four 
at  the  head  of  the  line  pushed  on  and  reached  a  cabin. 
By  noon,  the  next  day,  all  had  got  together  again. 

Just  before  leaving  the  timber  to  enter  the  prairie,  on 
which  the  town  of  Vincennes  stands,  we  met  an  Indian  on 
horseback.  A  new  blanket  wrapped  around  him,  leggins 
and  moccasins  adorned  with  beads,  a  bandage  round  the 
head  sustaining  a  bunch  of  feathers;  his  face  and  breast 
painted  ochre-red,  with  tomahawk  and  rifle,  a  stalwart 
savage  was  he.  Others  sat  in  groups  among  the  bushes, 
cooling  their  legs  in  the  lagoons  of  water,  or  engaged  in 
conversation  with  each  other.  Others  lay  scattered  on  the 
ground,  some  asleep  and  some  dead  drunk.  As  we  pro- 
ceeded their  numbers  increased.  Painted  warriors,  be- 
decked squaws,  bedizened  pappooses,  all  were  there. 
They  had  come  in  to  take  their  treaty-stipend  and  traffic 
with  the  agents  and  traders  that  lived  in  Vincennes.  They 
were  a  part  of  the  valiant  band  that  surprised  Harrison  on 
the  battle-ground  of  Tippecanoe,  and  had  nearly  over- 
powered him.  Though  fighting  hard  and  inflicting  great 
loss  upon  Harrison's  army,  they  lost  the  battle,  and  with  it 
their  prestige  and  their  country!  They  came  in  now  not 
as  supplicants,  but  painted  defiantly!  Their  look  and 
manner   plainly   showed   what   was    the    feeling    of  their 


AT   VINCENNES,   INDIANA.  53 

hearts.  They  only  wanted  the  opportunity  to  tomahawk 
the  inhabitants  and  burn  the  town.  Unfortunate  people! 
their  courage  broken,  their  country  lost,  their  numbers 
diminishing,  starvation  their  present  doom,  and  utter  ex- 
tinction a  speedy  certainty. 

At  the  \Vell-known  tavern  of  Colonel  LaSalle,  we  quar- 
tered ourselves  for  some  time,  resting  ourselves  and  horses, 
and  looking  at  farms  in  the  environs  of  the  town.  The 
great  Wabash  seemed  to  be  the  terminus  of  emigration. 
The  people  from  the  Eastern  States,  that  were  pouring  in, 
chiefly  found  locations  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Wabash, 
toward  Terre  Haute.  Even  here,  where  the  river  Wabash 
is  the  dividing  line  between  Indiana  and  Illinois,  nothing 
seemed  to  be  known  of  the  prairies,  excepting  the  "trace," 
that  is,  the  road  or  traveled  way  that  crossed  Illinois  from 
Vincennes  in  Indiana,  to  St.  Louis  in  Missouri.  To  ride 
that  alone  was  then  thought  to  be  a  perilous  affair. 

Here  was  a  period  to  our  progress.  We  had  heretofore 
been  traveling  continuously,  and  every  one  of  us  had  ex- 
hibited an  alacrity  in  prosecuting  our  journey  with  singular 
perseverance  and  assiduity.  Good -breeding  and  good 
tempers  had  ever  prevailed.  Each  yielded  his  own  to  the 
comfort  of  others.  Youth,  which  accepts  present  enjoy- 
ment and  rejects  fears  for  the  future,  had  much  to  do  with 
the  buoyancy  of  spirits  which  seldom  failed  us.  Six  of 
our  party  were  under  twenty,  three  were  under  thirty,  and 
one,  although  advanced  to  fifty-four,  was  active,  intelligent, 
and  strong.  We  were  not  an  ordinary  party  of  country 
folks;  the  men  looking  only  for  a  rich  piece  of  bottom- 
land, and  the  women  for  the  best  milk-cow.      Mr.  Birk- 


54        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY, 

beck's  daughters,  well-educated  young  ladies,  of  good 
sense  and  refinement,  were  most  agreeable  companions. 
Prudence,  the  youngest  daughter,  rather  small  and  deli- 
cate, a  brunette,  with  face  and  head  of  intelligence  and 
character,  her  remarks  were  piquant,  full  of  jest  and  mirth- 
enlivening  conversation.  Her  elder  sister  Eliza,  better 
grown  and  plump,  with  that  fair -and -red  English  com- 
plexion so  seldom  seen  here,  was  of  graver  mien  and  per- 
haps of  deeper  feeling,  formed  an  agreeable  contrast  in 
conversation  to  the  more  lively  sallies  of  her  younger  sis- 
ter. Miss  Andrews,  a  little  older,  w^as  in  intellect  and 
character  more  matured  and  of  greater  experience  in  life. 
As  the  head  of  her  brother's  house  in  London,  her  knowl- 
edge in  household  affairs  and  domestic  economy  was  more 
perfect.  Her  intelligence  and  reading,  and,  above  all,  more 
general  and  frequent  intercourse  with  good  society,  gave 
her  a  practical  knowledge  of  life  necessarily  superior  to 
tiiose  of  her  youthful  companions. 

With  these  agreeable  ladies  our  time  never  hung  heavy. 
Conversation  never  slacked,  enmd  was  never  known.  If 
any  one  of  us  was  detained  by  accident  or  indisposition, 
the  hand  of  a  kind  female  friend  was  ever  extended  for 
our  relief.  I  do  n't  think  that  any  traveling  party,  consti- 
tuted as  ours  w^as,  ever  accomplished  so  much  or  pursued 
their  journey  and  its  objects,  despite  of  its  difficulties,  with 
more  perseverance  than  ours.  I  am  sure  none  ever  pre- 
served their  tempers  better,  nor  gave  offices  of  kindness 
with  more  good -will,  none  could  have  a  more  sincere 
friendship  and  regard  for  each  other,  and  none  could 
enjoy  each  other's  company  more  than  we  did. 


WHAT   TOOK    PLACE  ON   JOURNEY.  55 

It  is  not  surprising  in  a  company  so  constituted  and  so 
situated,  that  feelings  of  attachment  should  have  grown 
up  with  a  strength  and  fervor  perhaps  unconscious  to 
themselves.  Whilst  traveling,  the  daily  business  of  the 
road  occupied  our  attention.  The  care  of  the  horses,  the 
repair  of  their  equipments,  recording  our  day's  travel, 
inquiries  of  the  road  in  order  to  avoid  its  difficulties  and 
dangers,  gave  full  occupation  to  the  men.  To  pack  their 
saddle-bags,  arrange  their  own  bed,  and  procure  little 
comforts  for  the  whole  party,  which  men  seldom  think  of, 
but  which  our  ladies 'never  forgot,  all  to  be  done  in  our 
short  halts,  or  after  a  whole  day's  ride,  kept  the  mind  and 
body  in  full  occupation. 

With  bodily  repose  the  mind  becomes  more  active,  and 
perhaps  perception  of  the  feelings  becomes  more  distinct. 
We  had  felt  the  inconveniences  of  the  sparcely-settled 
country  we  had  passed  over.  Perhaps,  as  we  stood  on  the 
vast  uninhabited  wilds  we  were  soon  to  enter,  an  instinc- 
tive sense  of  individuality  encountering  its  solitude  and 
manifold  labors,  vaguely  presented  itself  to  each  indi- 
vidual. A  few  words  spoken  from  one  person  to  another 
dissolved  the  happy  charm  which  had  hitherto  surrounded 
us,  and  drew  a  veil  from  the  eyes  of  many  individuals  of 
the  party. 

Mr.  Birkbeck  made  an  offer  of  marriage  to  Miss  An- 
drews, and  the  feeling  not  being  reciprocal,  was  respect- 
fully but  decidedly  declined,  although  urged  by  great 
strength  of  feeling.  This  incident,  purely  personal  and,  un- 
der other  circumstances  unimportant,  disturbed  somewhat 
our  little  party;  and  even  carried  its  influence  to  a  distant 


56       ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

period.  Some  constraint  and  reserve  now  took  the  place 
of  the  free  flow  of  expression  and  easy  intercourse  which 
had  accompanied  us  during  all  our  journey.  Little  eratic 
movements  might  be  observed.  The  smoker  would  some- 
times take  a  long  session  in  silence,  and  again  throw  down 
his  cigar  after  the  first  whifif.  One  young  lady  would  take 
two  or  three  extra  cups  of  tea;  another  would  not  touch 
a  drop.  Ominous  symptoms.  Avowals  and  explanations 
between  individuals  may  be  imagined  but  not  described. 
For  a  short  time,  things  were  a  little  embarrassing. 

I  proposed  for  the  hand  of  Miss  Andrews,  was  accepted, 
and  was  subsequently  married  to  her,  at  Vincennes,  in 
1 8 17,  at  the  house  of  Colonel  LaSalle.  The  venerable 
Elihu  Stout  (who  at  a  great  age  died  last  year),  a  jus- 
tice-of-the-peace,  and  editor  of  the  only  newspaper  pub- 
lished at  that  time,  was  the  officiating-magistrate.  Present; 
Mr.  Birkbeck,  as  father  to  the  bride,  and  Mr.  Elias  Pym 
Fordham  and  Judge  Blake  as  invited  guests  and  witnesses. 

We  immediately  made  arrangements  for  prosecuting 
the  final  portion  of  our  journey  into  that  part  of  Illinois 
recommended  by  Mr.  Sloo.  We  agreed  to  establish  the 
family  at  Princeton,  the  county -town  of  Gibson  County, 
thirty  miles  south  of  Vincennes.  For  this  purpose,  Mr. 
Birkbeck  and  his  family  immediately  went  there,  and  my 
wife  and  I  were  to  join  him  in  a  few  days. 

After  breakfast,  Mrs.  Flower  and  I  mounted  our  nags 
and  rode  to  the  village  and  settlement  of  the  Shakers, 
some  twenty-five  miles  north.  Few  people  then  came  to 
Vincennes  without  making  a  visit  to  the  Shaker  Settle- 
ment. 


SHAKER  SETTLEMENT  AT  BUSRO.         5/ 

Besides  a  special  interest  pertaining  to  a  sect  or  associa- 
tion of  peculiar  tenets  or  opinions,  there  is  a  general  inter- 
est attached  to  all  associations  formed  with  a  view  of 
avoiding  some  of  the  evils  of  life  but  too  common  in  gene- 
ral society. 

Arriving  at  Busro,  the  Sisters  took  charge  of  Mrs. 
Flower,  the  Brothers  took  care  of  me.  When  brought 
to  dinner  the  attending  brother  placed  me  on  one  side  of 
a  long  table  (on  which  was  spread  a  most  excellent  meal), 
the  attentive  Sisters  bringing  in  Mrs.  Flower,  placed  her 
exactly  opposite  to  me.  We  kept  a  grave  face  in  our 
novel  situation,  as  became  us  in  so  grave  and  orderly  a 
place.  Busro  had  the  good  cultivation,  neatness,  and 
thrift  usually  found  in  Shaker  settlements.  Any  society 
of  bachelors  and  spinsters,  without  the  expense,  care,  or 
trouble  of  children,  and  discarding  all  personal  love,  may 
well  be  orderly,  neat,  and  rich,  and  generally  are  so.  If 
they  are  satisfied  under  that  arrangement,  let  nobody 
gainsay  them.  I  was  told  that  a  few  backwoods  families 
occasionally  joined  them.  The  parents  seldom  perma- 
nently, the  children  frequently  remained.  This  suited  all 
parties.  The  old  people  of  confirmed  old-world  habits, 
and  not  always  the  best  of  them,  usually  left.  The  chil- 
dren finding  good  food,  good  clothes,  and  good  treatment, 
to  all  of  which  perhaps  they  had  been  strangers,  more 
willingly  remained,  and  the  Shakers  found  it  easier  to 
impress  the  minds  of  children  with  their  peculiar  views. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  tenets  of  the  Shakers, 
they  are  peaceable,  sober,  and  industrious;  but  they  were 
occasionally  badly  treated.     During  the  War  of  1812,  the 


58        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

Kentucky  volunteers,  on  their  way  north,  made  Busro 
their  camping-ground.  They  burnt  fences  and  fruit  trees 
for  firewood,  killed  many  cattle,  insulted  and  reviled  the 
inhabitants,  and  by  force  drove  one  or  two  of  the  members 
of  the  Society  before  them,  and  kept  them  as  slaves  doing 
menial  service  during  the  campaign.  When  they  returned 
they  encamped  in  the  same  place,  doing  more  mischief, 
indulging  in  their  barbarous  sport  of  roasting  alive  a  fat 
liog, 

To  a  well -worded  and  temperate  petition  from  the 
people  of  Busro,  asking  some  compensation  for  the  de- 
struction of  property  by  troops  in  the  pay  of  the  United 
States,  Congress  turned  a  deaf  car.  There  is  but  one 
species  of  property — property  in  man,  that  the  United 
States  Government  will  exert  itself  to  preserve;  in  that  it 
is  vigilant  enough. 

Passing  on  our  way  to  Princeton,  about  two  miles  from 
Vincennes,  .stands  the  village  of  Cattinet,  differing  in  its 
houses,  fences,  implements  of  husbandry,  vehicles,  inhabi- 
tants, and  domestic  animals  from  any  other  American 
village.  Its  houses  are  built  of  thick  slabs,  or  puncheons 
set  on  end.  The  roofs  covered  with  elm  bark,  in  wide  and 
long  pieces,  reaching  from  ridge  to  eaves.  The  garden 
fences  are  pickets  or  long  posts,  pointed  at  the  top  and 
firmly  planted  in  the  ground,  close  to  each  other,  side  by 
side.  Their  one-horse  carts,  or  those  drawn  by  oxen, 
were  made  without  a  particle  of  iron;  the  harness  without 
leather  or  iron,  excepting  the  bit  that  goes  in  the  animal's 
mouth.  A  shuck  collar,  two  pieces  of  wood  for  a  cart- 
saddle,  rawhide  for  traces,  and  for  strings  and  straps,  hick- 


CATTINET — HALF-BREEDS   AND   INDIANS.  59 

ory  bark.  When  drawn  by  oxen,  the  load  is  pulle(i  by  a 
Httle  yoke  fastened  to  the  head  of  the  cattle,  as  in  France. 
The  inhabitants  are  half-breeds  between  French  and  Ind- 
ian. Some  of  them  catching  the  bad  points  of  both  par- 
ents are  disagreeable  to  behold.  A  few  exhibit  a  style  of 
beauty  peculiarly  their  own.  The  men  lived  chiefly  by 
hunting  in  Illinois,  formerly  the  buffalo,  elk,  and  beaver; 
at  the  time  I  speak  of,  deer,  turkey,  raccoon,  and  opposum. 
They  cultivated  corn  enough  to  keep  a  horse  or  a  pair  of 
oxen.  They  live  chiefly  upon  an  excellent  Indian  dish 
called  succotash,  composed  of  corn  and  beans.  They  are 
of  the  complexion  of  the  "Bois-brule"  of  the  Far-West. 
The  lank  curs,  half-dog  half-wolf,  lurk  with  thief-like  look 
about  the  door.  Here  the  wild  and  the  domestic  cat  live 
together  in  harmony  with  pet  'possum,  coon,  and  squirrel. 
There  is  a  vital  spirit  in  Cattinet.  As  it  was  in  the 
beginning  so  it  is  now.  It  is  as  old  as  Philadelphia.  An 
American  village  would  long  ago  run  to  ruin,  or  grown 
into  a  town  or  city.  Riding  on  the  road  in  front  of 
the  houses,  I  saw  a  matronly  woman  somewhat  better 
dressed,  walking  with  a  composed  and  dignified  step. 
Her  complexion  and  features  told  me  whence  she  came. 
She  had  the  peculiar  saffron  color  which  I  have  noticed  in 
the  aged  women  in  the  south  of  France,  who  have  been 
exposed  to  the  weather.  Saluting  with  my  hat,  I  asked, 
in  her  own  language,  "Are  you  from  France,  madam.?" 
She  replied  in  her  native  tongue,  "And  who  are  you,  sir, 
that  are  so  inquisitive.?"  "An  Englishman,  madam." 
"Ah,"  said  she,  "then  there  are  two  of  us;"  meaning  that 
we  were  the  only  two  of  unmixed  blood  in  the  village. 


60        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTV. 

At  Princeton,  we  first  boarded  at  a  tavern  kept  by  Basil 
Brown.  The  party  being  large,  ten  persons  and  eleven 
horses,  we  soon  found,  even  at  the  moderate  charge  of  two 
dollars  a  week  for  each  person,  and  the  same  for  each 
horse,  that  the  amount  could  be  reduced  and  more  comfort 
obtained  by  keeping  house,  and  by  sending  our  spare 
horses  into  the  country,  to  rest  and  grow  fat  on  green  corn 
and  pumpkins. 

Princeton,  surrounded  by  heavy  timber  and  rich  land, 
the  delight  of  Americans  and  dread  of  Europeans,  who  are 
incapable  of  clearing  off  timber  to  advantage,  but  ten  miles 
from  the  ferries  on  the  Wabash,  and  twenty-five  from  Har- 
mony, suited  us  well  for  a  temporary  home.  By  the  time 
we  arrived  there,  Mr.  Birkbeck  had  already  agreed  to  rent 
a  house  of  sufficient  capacity,  and  my  wife,  as  senior,  was 
soon  installed  as  housekeeper  to  the  large  family,  which 
post  she  maintained  whilst  Mr.  Birkbeck  and  myself  were 
on  journeys  of  exploration  in  Illinois,  and  up  to  the  time 
when  it  became  necessary  for  me  to  go  to  England. 

Mr.  Birkbeck,  myself,  and  his  son  Bradford  mounted 
again,  determined  to  find  these  ever-receding  prairies.  We 
went  yet  thirty  miles  south  to  Harmony,  where  three  hun- 
dred organized  laborers  from  Harmony,  Pa., .were  in  their 
third  year  of  toil  and  improvement,  clearing  the  heavy 
timber  off  the  low  and  rich  lands  of  the  Wabash  valley. 
It  was  surprising  to  see  the  extent  of  clearing  accom- 
plished, and  the  number  of  buildings  erected  by  this  band 
of  organized  laborers;  and  equally  surprising  and  pleasing 
to  see  the  neatness,  order,  plenty,  and  apparent  content 
that  reigned.     The  long  rows  of  neat  cabins,  each  with  a 


NEW   HARMONY,    INDIANA.  6l 

small,  well-fenced  garden  in  front,  perfect  in  its  vegetable 
culture  and  gay  with  flowers;  the  women  in  their  quaint 
costume,  well  made  of  plain  and  strong  materials  of  their 
own  manufacture,  neat  and  clean,  altogether  presented  a 
striking  contrast  to  the  discomforts  of  many  of  the  individ- 
ual first -settlers,  detached  and  scattered  far  apart,  where 
nature  seemed  to  overpower  the  first  puny  eftbrts  of  her 
individual  invaders.  Contrasted  with  the  cabins  of  the 
people,  stood  the  large  brick -mansion  of  George  Rapp, 
completed,  fenced,  furnished,  and  occupied.* 

Opposite  to  Harmony,  on  the  Wabash  bottom,  on  the 
Illinois  side  of  the  river,  a  tract  of  about  five  miles  wide 
was  occupied  by  a  full  and  heavy  growth  of  cane.  Across 
this  bottom  and  through  this  cane  the  Harmonites  had  cut 
a  road  to  the  high  lands  of  Illinois,  to  unite  with  roads  and 
settlements  made  and  to  be  made.  Passing  along  this 
i:oad,  the  traveler  had  on  either  hand  a  wall  of  impenetra- 
ble verdure,  in  many  places,  and  for  a  long  distance,  full 

*  Though  situated  in  different  States,  and  twenty-five  miles  apart,  the  Eng- 
lish Colony  and  New  Harmony  had,  in  the  earlier  days,  much  in  common. 
The  settlement  at  New  Harmony,  or,  as  it  was  first  called,  Harvionie,  pre- 
ceded some  years  the  settlement  of  Albion.  The  colony  that  founded  Har- 
monic was  made  up  of  German  Lutherans,  from  the  kingdom  of  Wiirtemburg, 
having  at  their  head  a  schismatic  preacher,  named  George  Rapp,  a  man  of 
great  will,  determination,  and  energy,  accompanied  by  a  sort  of  religious 
enthusiasm,  and  holding  an  absolute  mastery  over  his  followers.  The  colony 
first  settled  in  Pennsylvania  in  1804,  but,  in  1813,  Rapp  purchased  thirty 
thousand  acres  of  government  land  on  the  Wabash,  and  on  a  part  of  which 
New  Harmony  was  built.  Contrary  to  the  general  idea,  Rapp's  colony  was  a 
great  success,  so  far  as  the  accumulation  of  property  was  concerned,  and  when 
Kapp  sold  out,  in  1825,  it  was  said  that  the  \v&'i.\\.\\ per  capita  was  ten  times 
greater  than  the  average  wealth  throughout  the  United  States.  The  people 
lived  together  like  "Shakers."  In  1824,  Rapp  had  become  fatigued  with  his 
charge,  and  desired  to  sell  out.  It  was  then  he  visited  Albion,  to  consult 
with  Richard  Flower,  whom  he  commissioned  to  go  to  Europe  to  offer  the  entire 


62        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

» 
twenty  feet  in  height.     Cane,  whatever  may  be  its  size  or 

height,  makes  its  growth  in  one  season.  At  its  first  com- 
ing up  it  is  almost'as  tender  as  asparagus,  and  in  that  state 
is  rapidly  destroyed  by  domestic  animals,  especially  hogs. 
It  bears  its  seed  not  annually  but  periodically,  at  long 
intervals,  a  quarter  or  half  a  century  apart,  and  then  dies. 
The  seed  resembles  the  wild  oat,  and  is  said  to  be  nutri- 
tious to  man  and  beast.  I  saw  it  in  its  full  size  and  vagor 
of  growth.  I  have  seen  it  bear  its  profuse  crop  of  seed 
and  die.  In  the  same  spot  where  I  saw  it  in  its  full  and 
perfect  growth,  it  is  now  scarcely  so  large  as  m\'  little  fin- 
ger, and  from  knee  to  shoulder  high.  Thus  dwarfed  and 
annually  dwindling  in  size  it  may  continue  for  many  years, 
but  the  day  of  its  utter  extinction  is  near  at  hand.  The 
Harmonites  had  entered  a  large  tract  of  this  cane,  and 
fenced  in  three  or  four  hundred  acres,  on  which  their  nu- 
merous cattle  and  sheep  subsisted  during  the  winter  season 
in  the  first  and  second  year  of  their  settlement. 

New -Harmony  property  for  sale.  Mr.  Flower  effected  a  sale  to  Robert 
Owen,  a  rich  manufacturer  of  New  Lanark,  Scotland,  a  reformer  and  philan- 
thropist, who  had  made  himself  well  known  in  Great  Britain,  particularly  in 
respect  of  his  views  in  regard  to  the  labor  question.  He  came  to  New  Har- 
mony in  the  autumn  of  1824,  and  completed  the  purchase  of  the  Rapp  village 
and  twenty  thousand  acres  of  land,  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars. 
The  Rappites  soon  left,  and  Owen  then  formed  the  colony  of  New  Harmony 
on  a  new  basis;  a  colony  that  has  challenged  more  attention  and  criticism 
than  any  like  colony  ever  established  in  this  Country.  When  Robert  Owen 
finally  returned  to  Scotland,  the  colony  fell  under  the  direction  of  his  three 
sons,  William,  Robert  Dale,  and  David  Dale  Owen.  The  two  last  named 
have  left  their  impress  upon  the  country  as  reformers  and  thinkers,  as  scholars 
and  writers,  and  men  of  large  accomplishments.  This  is  not  the  occasion  for 
a  disquisition  on  New  Harmony,  which,  in  competent  hands,  would  be  a  sub- 
ject of  the  greatest  interest.  This  brief  allusion  to  the  colony  is  made  here 
because  of  the  intimate  relations  which  had  sprung  up  between  Mr.  Hirkbeck, 
Mr.  Flower,  and  many  persons  of  Edwards  County,  with  Mr.  Owen. 


ENTER   ILLINOIS   TERRITORY.  63 

Even  here  we  could  not  learn  anything  of  the  prairies. 
Crossing  a  ferry  a  few  miles  south  of  Harmony,  we  entered 
the  Territory  of  Illinois,  and,  in  an  hour's  ride,  we  were  in 
the  settlement  of  the  Big-Prairie.  This  was  the  first 
prairie  in  the  south-eastern  part  of  Illinois,  and  distant 
from  the  Ohio  at  Shawneetown  about  thirty  miles  through 
woodland.  It  was  being  settled  exclusively  by  small  corn- 
farmers  from  the  slave-states.  This  prairie,  not  more  than 
six  miles  long  and  two  broad,  was  level,  rather  pondy,  and 
agueish.  Its  verdure  and  open  space  was  grateful  to  the 
eye,  but  it  did  not  fulfil  our  expectations. 

Following  the  directions  given  to  us  by  Mr.  Sloo,  we 
inquired  the  way  to  the  Boltenhouse  Prairie,  so-called 
from  the  name  of  a  man  who  had  built  a  small  cabin  on  its 
edge,  near  the  spot  where  his  brother  had  been  killed  by 
the  Indians  the  year  before.  By  side  of  the  road  we  were 
following,  was  a  small  log-house,  our  last  chance  for  infor- 
mation or  direction.  Our  informant,  stepping  from  his 
hut,  indicated  with  his  arm  the  direction  we  were  to  take, 
across  the  forest  without  road  or  path  of  any  kind. 

"Keep  a  wagon-track  in  your  eye  if  you  can,  and  you 
will  find  the  prairie."  A  wagon-track,  or  tw^o  ruts  on 
the  open  ground  made  by  wagon  wheels,  can  be  followed 
with  some  degree  of  certainty.  But  this  was  quite  a  differ- 
ent affair.  A  light-loaded  wagon  had  passed  a  fortnight 
before,  through  the  woods  and  high  underbrush,  leaving 
no  mark  on  the  hard  ground,  and  only  here  and  there  a 
bruised  leaf  or  broken  stem  to  indicate  its  passage.  For 
seven  mortal  hours  did  we  ride  and  toil  in  doubt  and 
difficulty. 


64        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

Bruised  by  the  brushwood  and  exhausted  by  the  extreme 
heat  we  almost  despaired,  when  a  small  cabin  and  a  low  fence 
greeted  our  eyes.  A  few  steps  more,  and  a  beautiful  prairie 
suddenly  opened  to  our  view.  At  first,  we  only  received 
the  impressions  of  its  general  beauty.  With  longer  gaze, 
all  its  distinctive  features  were  revealed,  lying  in  profound 
repose  under  the  warm  light  of  an  afternoon's  summer  sun. 
Its  indented  and  irregular  outline  of  wood,  its  varied  sur- 
face interspersed  with  clumps  of  oaks  of  centuries'  growth, 
its  tall  grass,  with  seed  stalks  from  six  to  ten  feet  high, 
like  tall  and  slender  reeds  waving  in  a  gentle  breeze,  the 
whole  presenting  a  magnificence  of  park-scenery,  complete 
from  the  hand  of  Nature,  and  unrivalled  by  the  same  sort 
of  scenery  by  European  art.  For  once,  the  reality  came 
up  to  the  picture  of  imagination.  Our  station  was  in  the 
wood,  on  rising  ground;  from  it,  a  descent  of  about  a  hun- 
dred yards  to  the  valley  of  the  prairie,  about  a-quarter  of 
a  mile  wide,  extending  to  the  base  of  a  majestic  slope, 
rising  upward  for  a  full  half-mile,  crowned  by  groves  of 
noble  oaks.  A  little  to  the  left,  the  eye  wandered  up  a 
long  stretch  of  prairie  for  three  miles,  into  which  pro- 
jected hills  and  slopes,  covered  with  rich  grass  and  decora- 
ted with  compact  clumps  of  full-grown  trees,  from  four  to 
eight  in  each  clump.  From  beneath  the  broken  shade  of 
the  wood,  with  our  arms  raised  above  our  brows,  we  gazed 
long  and  steadily,  drinking  in  the  beauties  of  the  scene 
which  had  been  so  long  the  object  of  our  search. 

\Vc  had  left  Harmony  that  morning  soon  after  daylight, 
went  south  a  few  miles  to  Williams'  ferry,  then,  crossing 
over,  came  to  the  Big-Prairie  as  before  stated,  and  drank  a 


INTENSE   HEAT — PRAIRIE   FLIES.  6$ 

cup  of  water  from  Mr.  Williams'  well.  This  was  all  the 
refreshment  we  had  "taken  during  the  day.  We  must  have 
traveled  more  than  forty  miles  in  that  rough  country  in 
one  of  the  hottest  days  of  summer.  Our  clothing  had 
for  hours  been  wet  through  with  profuse  sweat,  which 
trickled  down  our  faces  and  dropped  on  our  bodies.  We 
felt  wellnigh  exhausted  when  we  came  in  sight  of  our 
goal.  There  we  stood.  We  felt  no  hunger,  thirst,  or 
fatigue.  We  determined  to  saddle  up  again,  encounter 
the  prairie  and  its  flies,  and  finish  our  day's  work  by  push- 
ing into  Birk's  Prairie,  wWch,  by  the  route  we  took,  must 
have  been  seven  miles  farther.  We  passed  the  spot  where 
Wanborough  stands,  and  laid  us  down  for  the  night  near 
where  Henry  Huston  first  made  his  camp;  the  strongest 
day's  fatigue  I  ever  went  through,  and  without  refresh- 
ment, from  the  rising  to  the  setting  of  the  sun. 

Immediately  on  entering  the  prairie,  the  quietude  of 
our  ride  was  interrupted  by  the  restless  and  refractory 
actions  of  our  horses.  They  stamped  with  their  feet, 
started  to  a  rough  trot,  and  then  broke  into  a  gallop.  It 
was  from  the  sting  of  the  prairie-fly,  a  large  insect,  with 
brown  body,  green  head,  and  transparent  wings.  These 
prairie-flies  have  a  peculiar  liking  for  light  and  sunshine. 
They  attack  both  horses  and  cattle,  and  sting  them  dread- 
fully in  the  open  prairie,  but  will  not  follow  them  into  the 
ordinary  shade  of  a  wood  or  forest.  They  rarely,  if  ever, 
attack  men.  This  induces  the  grazing  animals  to  feed  in 
the  prairies  by  night,  and  retire  to  the  woods  by  day. 
This  annoyance  induces  travelers,  crossing  the  large 
prairies,  to  travel  by  night  and  rest  by  day. 
5 


66       ENGLISH    SETTLEiMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

Early  as  we  were  in  the  occupancy  of  these  prairies, 
after  the  Indians  had  left,  there  was  a  class  in  before  us. 
Not  numerous,  but  of  characteristics  so  peculiar  as  to 
deserve  a  passing  notice.  They  belong  to  neither  savage 
nor  civilized  life,  but  keep  their  station  between  the  two; 
following  up  the  Indians  as  they  retreat,  and  moving  away 
from  the  farmers  as  they  advance.  There  were  about  six 
of  these  families  scattered  over  a  distance  of  fifty  miles. 

Our  first  experiences  in  prairie  life  were  not  very  com- 
fortable. Camping  for  the  night  near  a  pool  of  stagnant 
water,  we  lay  down  to  rest,  turning  our  horses  loose  to 
graze.  In  the  morning  our  horses  were  missing.  We  wan-- 
dered  all  day  in  vain  search.  I  had  separated  myself 
from  my  companions  in  my  rovings.  The 'second  night 
found  me  in  a  small  prairie,  about  three  miles  west  of  the 
one  we  first  entered.  I  lay  down  in  the  open  prairie  with- 
out fire  or  supper,  my  umbrella,  a  walking-stick  by  day, 
at  night  a  house  for  my  head.  In  the  morning,  somewhat 
stiff  and  cold,  I  again  began  my  search,  and  soon  became 
as  wet  as  if  I  had  walked  through  a  river,  from  the  dew 
on  the  tall  grass.  For  once,  I  felt  glad  of  the  hot  sun,  to 
warm  and  dry  me.  As  a  resource  in  an  emergency,  I  car- 
ried a  small  bag  of  ground  parched-cornmeal,  mixed  with 
some  sugar  and  a  little  ground  ginger.  A  tablespoon  of  this, 
with  water,  in  some  shell  or  the  hollow  of  your  hand,  is 
very  grateful,  prevents  extreme  hunger,  and  gives  reason- 
able nutrition.     On  this  I  subsisted  for  a  couple  of  days. 

In  my  wanderings,  the  thought  struck  me  of  finding  out 
a  Captain  Birk,  mentioned  to  me  by  my  old  friend  Sloo, 
as  living  hereabout,  the  oldest  settler  in  these  parts;  he 


BiRK,  thp:  backwoodsman.  67 

had  been  here  ahnost  a  year.  Going  in  the  direction  in 
which  I  thought  he  Hved,  I  espied  a  trail,  made  by  the 
dragging  of  a  log.  Following  this,  I  came  suddenly  to  a 
worm-fence,  inclosing  a  small  field  of  fine  corn,  but  could 
see  no  dwelling.  I  wished  to  see  Birk,  but  felt  a  little 
difiidence  in  appearing  before  the  captain  in  my  deshabille. 
After  several  day's  travel,  and  two  night's  camping  out, 
my  toilette  was  considerably  compromised.  Looking 
closely,  I  observed,  between  two  rows  of  corn,  a  narrow 
.  path.  This  I  followed  until  I  came  suddenly  in  sight  of 
a  small  cabin,  within  twenty  steps  of  me,  a  little  lower 
than  the  surrounding  corn.  Looking  in  the  direction  of  a 
voice,  calling  back  a  savage  dog  that  had  rushed  out  to 
attack  me,  I  saw  a  naked  man,  quietly  fanning  himself 
with  a  branch  of  a  tree. 

My  first  surprise  over,  finding  his  name  was  Birk,  I  told 
him  who  I  was  and  my  errand,  at  which  he  did  not  seem 
at  all  pleased.  These  original  backwoodsmen  look  upon 
all  new-comers  as  obtruders  on  their  especial  manorial 
rights.  The  old  hunters'  rule  is:  when  you  hear  the  sound 
of  a  neighbor's  gun,  it  is  time  to  move  away. 

What  surprised  me  was  the  calm  self-possession  of  the 
man.  No  surprise,  no  flutter,  no  hasty  movements.  He 
quietly  said  that  he  had  just  come  from  mill  at  Princeton, 
thirty  miles  distant,  and  was  cooling  himself  a  bit.  Well, 
I  thought  he  was  cool.  I  afterward  found  all  of  this 
class  of  men,  who  live  in  solitude  and  commune  so  much 
with  nature,  relying  on  their  own  efforts  to  support  them- 
selves and  their  families,  to  be  calm,  deliberate,  and  self- 
possessed  whenever  they  are  sober.     The  best  breeding  in 


68        ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

society  could  not  impart  to  them  more  self-possession  or 
grve  them  greater  ease  of  manner  or  more  dignified  and 
courteous  bearing.  Birk's  cabin,  fourteen  feet  long,  twelve 
broad,  and  seven  high,  with  earth  for  a  floor,  contained  a 
four-post  bedstead,  said  posts,  driven  into  the  ground  by 
an  ax,  were  sprouting,  with  buds,  branches,  and  leaves. 

The  rim  of  an  old  wire-sieve,  furnished  with  a  piece  of 
deerskin,  punched  with  holes,  for  sifting  cornmeal,  a  skillet, 
and  a  coffee-pot  were  all  the  culinary  apparatus  for  a 
family  of  seven.  A  small  three-legged  stool  and  a  rickety 
clap-board  table  the  only  furniture.  An  ax  lay  at  the 
door,  a  rifle  stood  against  the  wall.  Himself  and  boys 
■were  dressed  in  buckskin,  his  wife  and  three  daughters  in 
flimsy  calico  from  the  store,  sufficiently  soiled  and  not 
without  rents.  Mrs.  Birk,  a  dame  of  some  thirty  years, 
•was  square-built  and  squat,  sallow,  and  smoke-dried,  with 
bare  legs  and  feet.  Her  pride  was  in  her  hair,  which,  in 
two  long  well-braided  black  and  shining  tails,  hung  far 
down  her  back. 

Birk  got  his  title  as  commander  of  a  company  of  men 
like  himself,  employed  as  outlying  scouts  to  the  American 
army  on  the  Canada  frontier.  The  cabin-door  was  made 
of  two  strong  puncheons,  to  withstand  an  Indian  attack. 
You  might  always  find  in  the  behavior  of  the  females,  of 
this  class  of  people,  the  degree  of  estimation  or  aversion 
in  which  you  were  held.  Mrs.  Birk  was  sour  and  silent, 
omnious  indications.  The  British  and  Indians,  having 
fought  together  against  the  Americans,  were  held  by  these 
people  in  the  same  category  as  natural  enemies.  To  such 
an  extent  was  this  feeling  exhibited,  that,  at  a  future  time, 


HATRED   TO   THE   "BRITISH."  69 

quite  a  respectable  farmer  in  the  Big  Prairie  apologized  to 
Mrs.  Flower  for  the  non-appearance  of  his  wife,  by  saying 
she  had  lost  a  brother  at  the  battle  of  the  River  Raisin, 
and  that  she  always  went  out  of  the  house  into  the  woods 
whenever  an  English  person  entered,  and  remained  there- 
as  long  as  he  or  she  stayed.  Besides,  we  came  with  the 
intention  of  settling  and  bringing  other  settlers.  All  this 
was  distasteful  to  them.  They  came  to  enjoy  the  solitude 
of  the  forest  and  the  prairie.  They  wished  to  be  far  from 
that  species  of  civilization  whose  temptations  could  not  be 
withstood  by  them,  and  which  made  the  weaknesses  of  its 
victims  augment  its  own  gains.  No  wonder  we  were  met 
by  no  cordial  greetings.  Our  success  would  be  their 
defeat,  and  the  growth  of  our  colony  the  signal  for  their 
removal.  A  few  dollars  liberally  given  for  information 
and  pilotage,  and  a  dram  of  whisky  whenever  we  had  it 
to  bestow,  would  modify  the  hostile  feeling,  and  we  soon 
became  on  friendly  terms. 

Two  or  three  slices  from  a  half-smoked  haunch,  a  few 
pommes  of  coarse  corn -bread,  seasoned  by  hunger,  the 
best  of  sauce,  gave  us  a  relishing  supper.  How  sleeping 
was  to  be  managed,  I  felt  at  a  loss.  As  night  advanced, 
Birk  reached  his  long  arm  up  to  a  few  clapboards  over 
the  joist,  and  pulled  down  a  dried  hog's -skin  for  my 
especial  comfort  and  repose  during  the  night. 

Father,  mother,  sons,  and  daughters  all  lay  on  the  one 
bed.  I,  as  in  duty  bound,  lay  my  hog's-skin  on  the  floor, 
and  myself  upon  it.     But  I  soon  found  that 

"  Big  fleas  and  little  fleas. 

And  less  fleas  to  bite  'em, 


70        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

These  again  had  lesser  fleas, 
And  so  on  ad  infinitum." 

I  removed  my  not  over- luxurious  couch  outside  the 
house,  to  a  spot  of  earth  free  from  vegetation,  and  there 
I  lay  until  break-of-day;  glad  enough  to  run  to  the  fire 
for  a  little  warmth  as  soon  as  it  was  kindled. 

Cold  is  never  more  felt  than  at  daybreak,  after  lying  on 
the  ground  without  covering,  even  in  the  summer  season. 
Our  horses  which  had  strayed,  were  brought  back  to  us  by 
John  Anderson,  one  of  those  outlying  hunters  who  for  a 
liberal  reward  acted  with  efficiency  on  the  occasion.  Under- 
standing the  instinct  of  the  horse,  Anderson  took  a  straight 
course  toward  Princeton,  until  he  reached  the  Great  Wa- 
bash, at  La  Vallett's  ferry.  There  he  found  the  fugitives, 
arrested  by  the  broad  stream,  from  immediately  attempt- 
ing a  crossing. 

Having  again  joined  my  companions,  we  once  again 
mounted,  and  proceeded  to  look  at  the  prairies  west  of  the 
Little  Wabash.  We  were  advised  by  Birk  to  call  on  a  man 
named  Harris,  who  lived  about  twelve  miles  west  of  the 
Little  Wabash.  To  find  a  little  cabin  through  fifteen  miles 
of  forest  and  prairie,  without  road  or  even  path,  is  no  small 
job.  But  it  is  astonishing  how  necessity  sharpens  the  wits, 
and  how  soon  signs,  before  unnoticed  and  unknown,  be- 
come recognized.  We  found  him  in  a  small  cabin,  shel- 
tered by  a  little  grove,  but  no  field  or  cultivation  of  any 
kind  about  his  humble  dwelling.  He  lived  in  the  same 
style  as  Birk  and  in  the  same  destitution.  One  article  of 
luxury  only  excepted.  This  was  a  fiddle  with  two  strings. 
We  found  the  prairies  desirable  as  to  size,  soil,  and  prox- 


A   CHARMING    PRAIRIE.  7 1 

imity  to  timber,  and  of  every  form,  each  with  its  own 
pecuHar  style  of  beauty.  One  small  prairie  charmed  me 
very  much — not  more  than  two  hundred  yards  wide  and 
about  1-^alf-a-mile  long.  A  thin  belt  of  tall  and  graceful 
trees  marked  its  boundary  from  other  and  larger  prairies. 
Its  distinguishing  feature  was  a  large  Indian  mound  in  the 
centre,  covered  with  the  same  rank  growth  of  grass  as  in 
other  parts  of  the  prairie.  Its  beauties  lying  in  silent  soli- 
tude, with  its  ancient  burial-place  of  a  by-gone  race,  gave 
to  it  an  unusual  and  somewhat  mysterious  interest.  These 
tumuli  are  not  the  burying-place  of  the  present  race  of 
Indians;  but  of  an  anterior  race,  probably  displaced  by 
the  Indians  as  we  are  displacing  them.  These  prairies 
were  only  less  desirable  than  those  east  of  the  Little  Wa- 
bash as  being  further  from  main  navigation,  the  Little 
Wabash  not  being  navigable  for  steam-boats. 

Harris  returned  with  us  to  Birk's,  carrying  the  super- 
annuated fiddle  carefully  along.  It  was  kept  in  scream 
until  a  late  hour,  bringing  to  the  inmates  of  the  cabin 
happy  recollections  of  Tennessee,  the  State  from  which 
they  had  emigrated.  The  people  of  which  Birk  and 
Harris  were  specimens,  were  serviceable  to  us  in  our  first 
settlement.  Dexterous  with  the  ax,  they  built  all  our  first 
log-cabins,  and  supplied  us  with  venison.  In  a  year  or 
two,  they  moved  into  less-peopled  regions,  or  to  where 
there  were  no  people  at  all,  and  were  entirely  lost  to  this 
part  of  the  country.  The  people  in  this  part  of  Illinois 
are  mostly  from  the  slave-states,  from  the  class  of  "poor 
wdiites,"  so-called.  When  they  leave  their  homes  and 
come  into  the  little  towns,  on  some  real  or  pretended  busi- 


'J2        ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

ness,  they  are  sober  and  quiet.  They  soon  get  to  the 
whisky-bottle,  their  bane  and  ruin.  Getting  into  a  state 
to  desire  more,  they  drink  all  they  can,  becoming  disagree- 
able, fractious,  and  often  dangerous  men.  One  glass  kin- 
dles the  eye,  the  second  loosens  the  tongue,  the  third 
makes  them  madmen.  They  own  a  horse,  rifle,  ax,  and 
hoe.  It  is  astonishing  to  see  with  what  deterity  they  use 
a  good  ax,  and  how  well  they  shoot  with  even  a  bad  rifle. 
They  are  not  of  industrious  habits,  but  occasionally  work 
with  great  vigor. 

Solitude,  watchfulness,  and  contemplation  amidst  the 
scenes  of  nature,  from  day  to  day,  from  week  to  week,  and 
often  from  month  to  month,  give  them  that  calm  and  dig- 
nified behavior  not  to  be  found  in  the  denizens  of  civilized 
life.  Another  portion  of  this  class  follow  a  different  des- 
tiny. Their  little  corn-patch  increases  to  a  field,  their  first 
shanty  to  a  small  log-house,  which,  in  turn,  gives  place  to 
a  double-cabin,  in  which  the  loom  and  spinning-wheel  are 
installed.  A  well  and  a  few  fruit-trees  after  a  time  com- 
plete the  improvement.  Moderate  in  thair  aspirations, 
they  soon  arrive  at  the  summit  of  their  desires.  Does  a 
more  complicated  mode  of  life  and  a  larger  amount  of 
wealth  add  to  human  happiness .''  The  only  difference 
between  these  stationary  settlers  and  the  roving  hunters 
appears  tQ  be  in  the  sobriety  of  the  one  and  the  intemper- 
ance of  the  other. 

We  returned  to  Princeton  by  a  more  direct  route,  cross- 
ing the  Wabash  at  LaVallette's  ferry.  Auguste  LaVal- 
lette  was  a  Frenchman  of  Canadian  birth,  I  suppose  nearly 
seven  feet  high;  tall  and  thin  as  all  the  La  Vallettes  were. 


OVERTAKEN   BY   NIGHT.  73 

His  brother  Francois,  recently  killed  by  the  Indians,  lived 
on  a  similar  site  on  the  Wabash,  forty  miles  higher  up  the 
river,  on  a  freestone  bluff,  now  called  Coffee  Island,  and 
similar  points  and  residences  of  Canadian-French  families, 
forty  and  fifty  miles  apart,  are  to  be  found  up  the  Wabash 
wherever  the  banks  are  high  and  commanding,  sometimes 
on  the  Illinois  and  sometimes  on  the  Indiana  side  of  the 
river. 

Before  leaving  Illinois,  night  overtook  us.  We  halted  by 
the  side  of  a  fallen  log,  at  a  point  of  timber  that  stretched 
into  the  prairie.  A  fire  being  kindled,  we  sat  down  on  the 
grass,  talked  over  and  decided  what  was  to  be  done.  I 
remember  the  spot  well;  it  was  then  called  'the  Long 
Prairie  that  runs  west  and  east,  toward  La  Vallette's  ferry, 
on  the  Great  Wabash  (now  Rochester),  not  far  from  a  farm 
afterward  made  by  Mr.  John  Kean,  a  native  of  Cornwall, 
but  somewhat  nearer  to  the  farm  now  owned  and  occupied 
by  Mr.  John  Cowling,  and  about  a-half  mile  west  of  his 
father-in-law's  house  and  farm,  Mr.  Edward  Coad,  now 
over  eighty  years  old,  enjoying  a  sound  constitution  and 
good  health. 

This  spot,  so  particularly  fixed  in  my  memory,  I  never 
passed  in  after  years  without  a  halt,  to  allow  the  panorama 
of  the  past,  with  all  its  vivid  pictures  to  flit  before  me. 
Here  our  future  destinies  were  fixed,  and  to  the  decisions 
made  here  the  present  English  Settlement  in  Edwards 
County,  Illinois,  owes  its  existence. 

The  result  of  our  decision  was  this  : — After  clubbing 
together  all  the  money  we  could  then  command,  Mr.  Birk- 
beck  was  to  go  to  Shawneetown  and  enter  all  the  wood- 


74        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

land  around  the  Boltenhouse  Prairie.  We  had  not  money 
enough  with  us  to  purchase  the  whole  prairie.  I  was  to 
return  to  England  to  remit  him  money  as  soon  as  possible, 
take  with  me  and  publish  the  manuscript  of  his  book  con- 
taining the  record  of  our  journey  from  Richmond  to  the 
prairies;  bring  out  my  father's  family;  and  spread  the  in- 
formation; point  out  the  road  to  it;  and  facilitate  emigra- 
tion general!}'.  He  was  on  the  home  department  to  pur- 
chase more  land  and  make  the  necessary  preparations  in 
building.  I  on  the  foreign  mission,  to  bring  in  the  people. 
As  will  be  seen  hereafter,  he  did  his  duty  and  I  did  mine. 
In  a  state  of  doubt,  the  wakeful  mind  allows  of  no  com- 
plete rest  to  the  body.  Decisions  once  made,  doubts 
banished,  the  way  made  clear,  the  mind  looses  its  tension, 
and  for  a  while  rests  in  unconsciousness.  The  bodv 
relaxed  in  fibre,  succumbs  "to  fatigue.  Both  seek  repose 
and  refreshment  in  sleep.  It  was  so  with  us.  Stretched 
on  our  blankets,  feet  to  the  fire,  saddle  for  a  pillow,  oblivi- 
ous of  doubt,  insensible  to  danger,  we  slept  soundly  until 
morning.  After  a  hasty  cup  of  coffee  by  our  camp-fire, 
untethered  our  horses,  mounted  and  rode  to  the  Wabash, 
about  six  miles  distant,  was  ferried  over  that  stream  by 
the  tall  Frenchman  who  owned  that  ferry,  floundered 
through  the  odious  swamp  which  lay  on  the  Indiana  side, 
for  a  mile,  knee-deep  in  mud  and  water,  and,  after  another 
ten-mile  ride,  rejoined  the  family  at  Princeton. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Fear  of  Speculators — Desire  to  get  a  Grant  of  Land  from  Congress — 
Mr.  Jefferson  \A^ritten  to  on  the  Subject — His  Answer  Letter  of 
Hon.  Nathaniel  Pope  Reply  of  Mr.  Birkbeck  Mr.  Flower  sets 
out  for  England — Long  Horseback-Trip  to  Chambersburgh,  Pa., 
Accompanied  by  Mrs.  Flower — The  Outfit — Incidents  of  the  Jour- 
ney Mrs.  Flower  Remains  in  Chambersburgh — Mr.  Flower  Sails 
from  New  York  to  Liverpool — Birkbeck's  Notes  of  Travel — The 
Emigrants. 

Our  safe  return  to  Princeton  was  hailed  by  our  families 
with  affectionate  joy.  Thankfully  we  enjoyed,  for  a  few 
days,  a  home  made  comfortable  by  cheerful  hearts  and 
active  hands.  After  needful  rest  from  our  harassing  jour- 
ney in  the  prairies,  we  thought  of  our  own  position.  Our 
first  measure  was  to  secure  as  much  land  as  our  present 
means  would  allow  in  the  Boltenhouse  Prairie.  By  a  jour- 
ney to  Shawneetown,  seventy  miles  distant,  this  was  done, 
and  about  three  thousand  acres  secured  by  payment  into 
the  land-office. 

It  was  evident  to  Mr.  Birkbeck  and  myself,  at  the  time 
we  made  our  first  entries  of  land  in  the  Boltenhouse 
Prairie,  that  we  were  exposed  to  the  invasion  of  specula- 
tors. Having  expended  all  the  money  we  could  then 
command,  by  securing  but  little  more  than  half  the  land 
we  intended  for  own  families,  we  felt  fearful,  as  the  point 
of  our  settlement  was  designated,  that  speculators  might 
buy  the  lands  immediately  around  those  we  had  purchased 


^6       ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

and  thus  defeat  our  object  in  preserving  lands  at  the  gov- 
ernment price  for  those  we  hoped  to  induce  to  come  from 
Great  Britain  the  following  year.  Fortunately  for  us,  at 
this  time,  there  was  a  great  scarcity  of  money,  and  the 
people  in  the  countries  of  Indiana  and  Kentucky,  adjacent 
to  Southern  Illinois,  were  almost  all  of  them  more  or  less 
in  debt,  and  we  were  not  then  advertised,  we  had  made  no 
publications.  From  these  circumstances,  probably  we  were 
for  the  time  secured  from  the  species  of  obtrusion  we  so 
much  dreaded.  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  asking  his 
opinion  as  to  whether  Congress,  on  suitable  application, 
would  be  likely  to  make  us  a  grant  of  a  township  of  land 
for  our  contemplated  settlement.  His  reply  was  prompt 
and  full;  and  as  this  letter,  from  that  eminent  statesman, 
so  ably  covers  the  whole  ground  of  the  inquiry,  and  is  so 
characteristic  of  the  man,  no  apology  is  needed  for  its 
insertion,  feeling  persuaded  that  it  will  be  an  object  of 
interest  to  the  reader  long  after  the  general  narrative  shall 
have  faded  from  view.  I  may  add  that  the  original  letter 
is  now  deposited  in  the  archives  of  the  Chicago  Historical 
Society.  In  long  after  years,  the  curious  reader  of  old 
documents  will  not  fail  to  admire  the  neatness  and  even- 
ness of  the  handwriting,  which  is  preserved  with  unvarying 
accuracy  from  the  first  to  the  last  word  of  this  interesting 
letter.*    But  further  action  in  this  matter  had  to  be  dropped. 

*  This  letter  is  still  in  possession  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  and 
is  now  before  me.  It  bears  out  all  Mr.  Flower  says  of  it.  It  is  charac- 
teristic of  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  was  oqe  of  the  most  conscientious  and  painstak- 
ing of  correspondents.  He  made  it  a  point  to  reply  to  all  letters  whose 
writers  had  any  claim  to  his  consideration,  and  he  never  did  it  hurriedly  nor 
in  a  careless  or  slip-shod  manner.     The  e.\treme  neatness  and  regularity  of 


LETTER   OF   MR.  JEFFERSON.  'J'J 

I  was  soon  on  my  way  to  Great  Britain  to  prepare  our  first 
emigrating  parties. 

"  Poplar  Forest,  12th  July,  181  j. 

''Dear  Sir: — Your  favor  of  August  12th  was  yesterday 
received  at  this  place,  and  I  learn  from  it  with  pleasure 
that  you  have  found  a  tract  of  country  which  will  suit  you 
for  settlement.  To  us,  your  first  choice  would  have  been 
gratifying,  by  adding  yourself  and  friends  to  our  society, 
but  the  overruling  consideration  with  us,  as  with  you,  is 
your  own  advantage,  and  it  would  doubtless  be  a  greater 
comfort  to  you  to  have  your  ancient  friends  and  neighbors 
settled  around  you.  I  sincerely  wish  that  your  proposition 
to  purchase  a  tract  of  land  in  Illinois  on  favorable  terms,  for 
introducing  a  colony  of  English  farmers,  may  encounter 
no  difficulties  from  the  established  rules  of  our  land -de- 
partment. 

"  The  general  law  prescribes  an  open  sale,  where  all  citi- 
zens may  compete  on  an  equal  footing  for  any  lot  of  land 
which  attracts  their  choice.  To  dispense  with  this  in  any 
particular  case  requires  a  special  law  of  Congress,  and  to 
special  legislation  we  are  generally  averse,  lest  a  principle 
of  favoritism  should  creep  in  and  prevent  that  of  equal 
rights.  It  has,  however,  been  done  on  some  occasions, 
when  special  national   advantages  has   been  expected   to 

his  handwriting  is  the  more  remarkable  when  the  fact  of  a  broken  wrist  is 
taken  into  consideration,  which  seriously  disabled  him  and  was  a  great  trouble 
and  annoyance  for  many  years,  and  of  which  he  often  complained.  It  was  a 
most  fortunate  thing  that  this  letter  and  many  other  valuable  autograph  letters, 
written  to  Mr.  Flower,  and  presented  by  him  to  the  Society,  as  well  as  the 
manuscript  history  of  Edwards  County,  had  been  borrowed  of  the  librarian  a 
few  days  before  the  great  fire  in  1871,  and  thus  saved  from  destruction. 


j8        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IX    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

outweigh  that  of  adherence  to  the  general  rule.  The 
promised  introduction  of  the  culture  of  the  vine  procured 
a  special  law  in  favor  of  the  Swiss  Settlement  on  the  Ohio. 
That  of  the  culture  of  oil,  wine,  and  other  Southern  pro- 
ductions did  the  same  lately  for  the  French  Settlement  on 
the  Tombigbee.  It  remains  to  be  tried  whether  that  of 
an  improved  system  of  farming,  interesting  to  so  great  a 
proportion  of  our  citizens,  may  not  also  be  worth  a  dis- 
pensation of  the  general  rule.  This,  I  suppose,  is  the 
principal  ground  on  which  }'our  proposition  will  be  ques- 
tioned, for  although,  as  to  other  foreigners,  it  is  thought 
better  to  discourage  their  settling  together  in  large  masses, 
wherein,  as  in  our  German  settlements,  they  preserve  for  a 
long  time  their  own  language,  habits,  and  principles  of 
government,  and  that  the\'  should  distribute  themselves 
sparsely  among  the  natives,  for  quicker  amalgamation,  yet 
English  emigrants  are  without  this  inconvenience,  they 
differ  from  us  but  little  in  their  principles  of  government, 
and  most  of  those  (merchants  excepted)  who  come  here 
are  sufficiently  disposed  to  adopt  ours.  What  the  issue, 
therefore,  of  your  proposition  may  probably  be,  I  am  less 
able  to  advise  you  than  many  others,  for,  during  the  last 
eight  or  ten  years,  I  have  no  knowledge  of  the  administra- 
tion of  the  land-office,  or  the  principles  of  its  government, 
even  the  persons  on  whom  it  will  depend  are  all  changed 
within  that  interval,  so  as  to  leave  me  small  means  of  being 
useful  to  you.  Whatever  they  may  be,  however,  they 
shall  be  fully  exercised  for  your  advantage;  and  that  not 
on  the  selfish  principle  of  increasing  our  population  at  the 
expense  of  other  nations,  for  the  additions  are  but  as  a 


MR.  JEFFERSON'S    LETTER   CONTINUED.  79 

drop  in  a  bucket  to  those  by  natural  procreation,  but  to 
consecrate  a  sanctuar}^  for  those  whom  the  misrule  of 
Europe  may  compel  to  seek  happiness  in  other  climes. 
This  refuge,  once  known,  will  produce  reaction,  even  of 
those  there,  by  warning  their  task-masters  that  when  the 
evils  of  Egyptian  oppression  become  heavier  than  those  of 
abandonment  of  country,  another's  canaan  is  opened,  where 
their  subjects  will  be  received  as  brothers  and  secured  from 
like  oppression  by  a  participation  in  the  rights  of  self- 
government. 

"If  additional  motives  could  be  wanting  into  the  main- 
tainance  of  this  right,  they  would  be  found  in  the  animat- 
ing consideration  that  a  single  good  government  becomes 
thus  a  blessing  to  the  whole  earth;  its  welcome  to  the 
oppressed  restraining  within  certain  limits  the  measure  of 
their  oppressions,  but  should  ever  this  be  counteracted  by 
violence  on  the  right  of  expatriation,  the  other  branch  of 
our  example  then  preselits  itself  to  their  imitation,  to  use 
.on  their  rulers,  and  do  as  we  have  done. 

"You  have  set  your  country  a  good  example,  by  show- 
ing them  a  practicable  mode  of  reducing  their  rulers  to  the 
necessity  of  becoming  more  wise,  more  moderate,  and 
more  honest,  and  I  sincerely  pray  that  the  example  may 
work  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  can  not  follow  it,  as  it 
will  for  your  own. 

"With  Mr.  Birkbeck,  the  associate  of  your  extraordinary 
journeyings,  I  have  not  the  happiness  of  personal  acquaint- 
ance, but  I  know  him  through  his  narrative  of  your  jour- 
neyings together  through  France.  The  impressions  re- 
ceived from  that,  give  me  confidence  that  a  participation 


■80        ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

with  yourself  in  the  assurances  of  the  esteem  and  respect 
of  a  stranger  will  not  be  unacceptable  to  him,  and  the  less 
when  given  through  you  and  associated  with  those  to  your- 
self I 

"Th:  Jefferson. 
"To  George  Flower,  Esq." 

During  my  absence  in  England,  danger  from  the  same 
source  was,  no  doubt,  entertained  by  Mr.  Birkbeck.  A 
correspondence  between  him  and  Hon.  Nathaniel  Pope, 
delegate  for  the  Territory  in  Congress,  on  the  same  subject, 
shows  in  what  light  the  delegate  viewed  the  application 
and  the  applicant. 

It  seems  that  Mr.  Birkbeck's  application  was  for  an 
extension  of  time  of  payment,  as  we  should  now  say  for  a 
preemption,  on  forty  thousand  acres  of  land.  It  is  some- 
what curious  to  see  how  the  minds  of  different  individuals, 
entertaining  the  same  general  views,  and  actuated  by  simi- 
lar principles  arrive  at  the  same  conclusions.  Thus  in 
view  of  danger  from  land  speculation  we  acted  individ- 
ually, but  in  a  similar  manner.  Again,  at  the  time  of  the 
convention  question,  without  any  communication  with 
each  other,  we  gave  all  the  strength  of  our  respective 
abilities  to  defeat  that  nefarious  measure.  We  shall  see 
more  distinctly  the  nature  of  the  petition  forwarded  to 
Congress,  through  Nathaniel  Pope,  by  the  perusal  of  the 
following  letters.  The  first  letter  (Mr.  Pope's)  was  in  an- 
swer to  one  accompanying  the  petition  referred  to.  The 
reply  by  Mr.  Birkbeck  fully  explains  his  first  letter.* 

*  The  original  letter  of  Mr.  Pope's  is  of  the  number  of  letters  presented 
to  the   Chicago    Historical    Society   by    Mr.    Flower.      The  handwriting  is 


LETTER   OF    NATHANIEL   POPE.  8 1 

"Washington,  Dec.  ij,  i8ij. 

^'  Sir: — \  duly  received  your  letter  and  petition.  It  is  so 
indefinite  as  to  leave  me  embarrassed  in  adopting  a  course. 
It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  you  had  not  entered  into 
more  explanatory  details.  I  read,  with  great  pleasure,  your 
notes  on  your  late  tour  to  Illinois,  in  hopes  of  finding  a 
solution  to  my  difficulties,  but  in  vain;  I  mean  in  quan- 
tity and  terms  of  payment.  I  am  so  much  flattered  by 
your  selection  of  the  Illinois  Territory  as  your  permanent 
residence  in  the  prospect  of  the  permanent  advantages 
it  may  derive  from  your  experience  in  the  arts  of  hus- 
bandry, that  I  can  not  fail  to  indulge  an  ardent  wish  that 
you  may  succeed  in  your  plan. 

"I  made  some  enquiries  of  Mr.  Adams,  late  minister  to 
London,  now  secretary-of-state,  who  speaks  of  you  in  the 
most  flattering  terms.  I  can  not,  however,  conceal  from 
you  the  only  cause  that  will  defeat  your  application.  Al- 
though not  personal  to  you,  yet  its  operation  is  hostile  to 
your  views;  I  mean  the  fear  of  speculation.  This  fear  is 
not  awakened  by  any  part  of  your  conduct,  but  that  of 

remarkably  smooth,  regular,  and  even  elegant,  denoting  a  man  of  education 
and  rare  adaptation  to  business.  All  the  older  members  of  the  legal  pro- 
fession in  Illinois  will  well  remember  Nathaniel  Pope,  so  long  and  so  honora- 
bly identified  with  the  history  of  the  Territory  and  State  of  Illinois.  He  was 
the  first  secretary  of  the  Territory  of  Illinois,  holding  the  office  from  March 
7,  1809,  to  Decemlier  17,  1S16.  In  the  latter  year,  he  was  elected  delegate  to 
Congress  from  Illinois,  and  procured  its  admission  as  a  State  in  1818.  He 
was  the  first  judge  of  the  United  States  District  Court  for  the  State  of  Illinois, 
and  held  that  position  till  his  death,  in  1849,  a  period  of  thirty-one  years. 
His  successor,  Hon.  Thomas  Drummond,  has  held  the  position  of  District 
and  Circuit  Judge  of  the  United  States  Courts  for  over  thirty-three  years. 

Judge  Pope  was  a  man  of  intelligence  and  education,  to  which  he  united  a 
remarkably  acute  intellect.  He  was  a  good  lawyer,  an  honest  man,  and  incor- 
ruptible judge.     Maj.-Gen.  John  Pope,  of  the  United  States  Army,  is  his  son. 

6 


82        ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

others.  The  bounty  and  liberality  of  the  Government 
has  been  so  often  diverted  from  the  intended  objects,  that 
members  of  Congress  are  diffident  of  supporting  applica- 
tions of  the  nature  of  yours,  as  they  have  no  personal 
knowledge  of  you.  I  regret  that  your  arrangements  did 
not  comprehend  a  visit  to  this  place,  at  this  time,  as  per- 
sonal explanations  would  have  advanced  your. plan,  which 
seems  to  me  replete  with  important  advantages  to  the 
Territory,  and  well  calculated  to  advance  the  happiness  of 
the  human  family  upon  a  more  extended  scale  than  ap- 
pears from  a  limited  consideration  of  its  operation.  I  can 
not,  however,  advise  you  to  come  on  after  the  reception  of 
this  letter,  as  it  would  be  too  late  to  effectuate  anything. 
Every  thing  that  I  can  do  under  the  stimulus  of  no  ordin- 
ary an.xiety  for  your  success,  shall  be  attempted.  I  hope  to 
have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  from  you  at  an  early  period. 

"In  the  meanwhile,  I  beg  you  to  accept  assurances  of 
my  zeal   in  your  cause,  and   with  sentiments  of  respect 

and  esteem,  I  am,  your  ob'd't  ser't, 

"Nath'l  Pope. 
"To  Morris  Birkbeck,  Esq." 

To  which  Mr.  Birkbeck  replied: 

"  Princeton,  January  i6,  1818. 

"Sir: — Owing  to  the  interruption  of  the  mails,  your 
favor  of  the  14th  ultimo  has  only  just  reached  me.  I 
regret  that  I  did  not  state  more  particularly  my  views  in 
regard  to  the  object  of  the  memorial  I  transmitted  to  you. 
As  to  terms,  I  should  not  be  so  weak  as  to  reject  any 
advantage  which  the  liberality  of  the  Government  might 
afford.     It  is  not  a  reduction  of  the  price  I  would  solicit, 


LETTER   OF    MORRIS   BIRKBECK.  8^ 

m 

but  such  an  extension  of  time  of  payment  as  might  pre- 
clude embarrassment  or  disappointment.  As  to  quantity, 
my  idea  was  that  it  might  be  left  indefinite  to  a  certain 
extent.  That  is,  that  I  might  be  allowed  t9  engage  as  I 
might  require  for  the  purpose  specified,  not  exceeding 
twenty,  thirty,  or  forty  thousand  acres,  leaving  Govern- 
ment to  fix  the  limits.  This  plan  is,  I  think,  not  liable  to 
be  abused  as  a  means  of  speculation,  a  design  which,  I 
think,  would  not  be  imputed  to  me  by  those  who  are 
acquainted  with  my  habits;  yet  it  is  perfectly  natural  that 
a  jealousy  of  that  kind  should  operate  in  the  way  you 
mention.  I  dare  say  it  is  now  too  late  for  my  explanation 
to  avail  anything.  But  I  am  anxious  to  express  my  obli- 
gation to  you  for  your  attention,  whatever  may  be  the 
result.  I  believe  my  plan  is  calculated  to  produce  import- 
ant benefits  without  risk  or  concomitant  evil,  and  I  am 
gratified  to  find  that  it  has  your  approbation. 
"  I  am,  sir,  most  sincerely  yours, 

"  Morris  Birkbeck." 

Our  efforts  in  securing  a  preemption  on  a  large  quantity 
of  land,  through  the  preliminary  correspondence  with 
Jefferson  and  Pope,  were  unsuccessful.  Our  hands  were 
full  of  business,  and  we  could  not  give  to  it  the  personal 
attention  that  such  business  at  Washington  requires. 

We  had  been  two  months  at  Princeton.  The  family 
always  there;  our  two  selves  almost  always  away,  had  com- 
pleted our  work  of  exploration.  The  time  now  approached 
for  my  return  to  England,  to  carry  out  the  next  step.  To 
make  publication,  bring  people  to  the  land,  and  place  our- 


84        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

selves  in  funds.  Our  first  plan  was  that  Mrs.  Flower 
should  remain  with  Mr.  Birkbeck's  family  and  that  I 
should  proceed  on  my  journey  eastward  and  my  voyage 
alone.  To  make  a  will  and  dispose  of  our  effects  in  a 
secure  and  desirable  manner  is  always  proper,  yet  how 
often  deferred. 

I  therefore,  before  leaving  Princeton,  made  my  will. 
Mr.  Birkbeck,  Miss  Birkbeck,  and  Bradford  Birkbeck  were 
witnesses  to  that  instrument.  How  little  did  we  think 
that  this  was  to  be  our  last  united  act.  That  we  were 
never  more  to  meet  again  or  speak  a  friendly  word  to 
each  other.  Before  leaving  Princeton,  we  agreed  on  the 
division  of  our  land  and  the  building  of  our  houses.  On 
the  latter  point,  we  differed  a  little  in  opinion.  He  pro- 
posed that  the  north-and-south  line,  which  divided  our 
land,  should  run  through  one  house.  I  living  in  the 
apartments  on  my  land,  and  his  family  occupying  the 
apartments  on  his  land,  both  families,  in  fact,  living  in  one 
house.  Mrs.  Flower  and  myself  thought  it  better  to  live 
in  our  own  house,  and  that  Mr.  Birkbeck's  family  should 
live  in  their  house,  however  near  those  houses  might  be. 
This  was  the  first  difference  in  our  plan  of  operations  that 
had  ever  occurred  between  us,  and,  trivial  as  it  may  seem 
perhaps  we  may  ascribe  to  it  that  divergence  which  carried 
the  lasting  separation  that  followed;  as  the  ridge-tile  of  a 
house  separates  two  raindrops,  that  fall  within  an  inch  of 
each  other,  in  the  same  shower,  casting  one  eastwardly,  to 
mingle  ultimately  with  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  the  other, 
westward,  destined  to  add  its  atom  to  the  Pacific. 

Although  our  residence  at  Princeton  was  one  of  united 


PREPARATION    TO   RETURN   TO   ENGLAND.  85 

effort  and  cordial  friendship,  our  feelings  did  not  exhibit 
that  even  and  warm  glow  which  shone  upon  the  party  as 
it  journeyed  to  the  West.  They  partook  now  more  of  the 
character  of  an  April  day,  when  the  clouds  fly  high  and 
rapidly  cast  shadows  on  the  bright  sunshine  as  they  pass. 

We  were  now  in  changed  circumstances,  our  plans  re- 
quired the  division  and  subdivision  of  our  little  party. 
Some  to  turn  back,  encountering  long  journeys  by  land 
and  voyages  by  sea,  before  they  could  be  united  again. 
And  the  part  that  remained,  often  to  be  divided  through 
winter  and  succeeding  spring,  some  remaining  in  Indiana 
and  some  wandering  in  Illinois.  This  naturally  cast  a 
shade  of  thought  upon  us  all. 

The  time  arrived  for  my  return  to  England.  All  cir- 
cumstances being  considered,  Mrs.  Flower  and  myself 
thought  it  better  to  take  the  journey  East  together.  We 
should  enjoy  each  other's  company  three  weeks  longer, 
and,  at  my  return  in  the  following  spring,  we  should  again 
meet  months  earlier  than  we  otherwise  could.  The  last 
day  at  Princeton  was  spent  by  Mr.  Birkbeck  and  myself 
in  talking  over  the  business  that  each  was  to  do  separately. 
He,  in  the  further  purchase  of  land  as  soon  as  funds  could 
be  procured,  and  in  the  erection  of  cabins  and  other  neces- 
sary preparations  for  the  settlement  in  spring.  He  handed 
to  me  his  two  manuscripts.  One  to  be  published  in  Phila- 
delphia and  one  in  England. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  in  these  days  of  convenience  and 
fast  travel,  that  then  horseback  was  the  only  mode  of 
traveling,  and  the  space  contained  in  a  pair  of  saddle-bags 
all  that  was  allowed  for  papers,  wardrobe,  and  often  pro- 
visions for  the  traveler. 


86        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

The  little  horse  that  had  carried  me  on  my  solitary 
journey,  of  over  two  thousand  miles,  was  a  high-bred 
animal  of  mettle  and  of  perfect,  but  of  rather  slight,  frame; 
not  of  sufficient  bone  and  substance  to  carry  my  weight 
with  the  baggage  with  which  I  was  encumbered,  and 
pressed,  as  I  knew  he  must  be,  to  a  forty-mile  daily  travel. 
I  gave  him  to  my  little  friend.  Prudence  Birkbeck.  She 
loved  a  gallop  on  a  mettlesome  nag.  Her  light  weight  he 
would  carry  as  a  feather,  and  I  was  well  pleased  to  place 
my  faithful  little  horse,  to  whom  1  was  much  attached, 
with  a  friend  that  would  take  care  of  him. 

Selecting  two  of  the  most  suitable  animals  from  our 
stud  of  ten,  for  myself  and  wife,  behold  them  caparisoned 
and  both  of  us  mounted.  On  the  back  of  each  horse  Avas 
evenly  laid  a  soft  and  rather  thin  blanket,  which  received 
the  saddle,  kept  steady  in  its  place  by  girths  and  crupper, 
over  the  saddle,  folded  double  and  sometimes  triple,  was 
laid  a  large  and  soft  Whitney  blanket,  kept  in  place  by  a 
broad  circingle.  The  pad  behind  the  saddle  received  the 
cloak  and  umbrella,  tightly  folded  in  one  large  roll,  and 
bound  with  two  leathern  thongs.  The  saddle-bags,  stuffed 
to  their  utmost  capacity,  were  laid  on  the  saddle,  under 
the  blanket,  kept  in  place  by  two  loops  through  which  the 
stirrup-leathers  passed.  On  the  top  of  all  sat  the  rider. 
It  is  rather  a  skilful  job  to  pack  saddle-bags  well.  As  you 
put  in  their  contents,  you  must  poise  them  frequently,  to 
see  that  each  side  is  equally  weighted.  If  you  fail  in  this, 
you  are  plagued  the  whole  ride,  by  the  bags  slipping  to 
one  side  or  the  other,  to  the  danger  of  their  striking 
against  the  horse's  legs,  starting  him  off  in  a  furious  kick- 


HORSEBACK   OUTFIT.  8/ 

ing-gallop.  A  riding  appendage,  peculiar  to  horsemen  in 
America,  is  the  legging.  It  is  a  piece  of  bkie  or  drab 
cloth,  about  a  yard  square,  folded  round  the  leg  from 
knee  to  ankle,  pinned  with  three  pins  to  keep  the  edges  in 
place,  and  tied  by  two  bands  of  tape  or  galloon,  one  below 
the  knee,  the  other  above  the  ankle.  It  catches  all  the 
splash  and  mud,  and,  when  cast  off,  the  pantaloon  is  dry 
The  women,  instead  of  the  full  cloth  riding-habit  worn  in 
England,  draw  over  their  usual  dress  a  long  skirt,  made  of 
bombazine  or  some  dark-colored  stuff,  and  over  their  heads 
they  cast  a  large  handkerchief,  which  they  tie  under  their 
chin.  This  keeps  the  bonnet  and  veil  in  place,  and  protects 
the  face  and  ears  from  sun,  wind,  and  rain.  Our  horses 
and  ourselves  thus  accoutred,  we  mounted,  and  this  is  done 
by  the  horses  being  led  to  a  block — in  Western  America, 
generally  the  stump  of  a  tree — and  even  then  it  takes  a 
pretty  wide  stride  and  fling  of  the  leg  for  a  man  to  clear 
saddle-bags,  great-coat,  and  umbrella.  But  when  once 
mounted,  with  a  high  pommel  in  front,  cloak  and  umbrella 
behind,  you  are  not  easily  dismounted.  In  these  long 
journeys,  there  is  very  little  mounting  and  dismounting, 
rarely  more  than  once  or  twice  in  a  day.  Accoutred  and 
mounted,  our  friends  came  around  us  with  full  hearts  and 
tearful  eyes,  with  hopes  and,  perhaps,  some  regrets  and 
forebodings.  We  turned  our  horses  toward  their  long  and 
toilsome  journey,  and  thus  we  parted  with  friends  we  were 
destined  never  more  to  meet.  There  is  little  to  recount  in 
this  journey  excepting  its  daily  toil.  , 

In  the  lat'ter  part  of  September,  the  weather  is  often 
very  hot.     Relaxed  by  the  long-continued  heat  of  sum- 


88        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

mer,  the  body  feels  excessive  languor  under  autumnal 
heat.  To  accomplish  nearly  forty  miles  a-day,  encumbered 
as  we  were,  was  an  effort  subjecting  us  to  great  fatigue. 
It  would  have  been  to  a  party  of  strong  men.  To  my 
wife,  I  felt  conscious  it  was  a  severe  trial.  Thinking  of 
others  always  before  herself,  and  gifted  with  a  rare  spirit 
of  perseverance  and  resolution,  she  would  never  submit  to 
the  least  delay,  whatever  might  be  her  fatigue  or  suffering. 
It  was  getting  late  in  the  season,  and  she  dreaded  for  me 
a  winter's  passage  across  the  Atlantic.  We  never  lost  a 
day  during  the  whole  journey.  We  had  but  one  brief 
delay;  my  horse  falling  lame,  I  had  to  sell  him  and  get 
another.  But  this  journey  had  its  perils  as  well  as  its 
fatigues. 

Somewhere  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  the  waters  were  out. 
Rain  had  fallen  for  many  days.  From  the  edge  of  the 
high  ground,  we  saw  a  valley,  nearly  two  miles  wide,  cov- 
ered with  water.  The  river,  about  two  hundred  yards 
before  and  below  us,  was  undistinguishable  from  the  sur- 
rounding water,  excepting  by  the  guard  or  hand-rails  of  a 
bridge,  and  the  planks  on  the  top  of  the  bridge,  which 
were  two  or  three  feet  above  the  water,  but  each  sloping 
end  of  the  bridge  was  under  water.  Sitting  on  our  horses, 
and  hesitating  as  to  what  to  do,  we  saw,  in  the  valley 
below,  a  man  on  horseback  just  entering  the  water. 
'  We  watched  him  wading  about  knee-deep,  and  saw  him 
ascend  the  sloping  end  of  the  bridge.  Suddenly  his  horse 
went  down  under  water,  and  he,  floundering  off  his  back, 
reached  the  dry  planks  on  the  top  of  the  bridge.  The 
horse  was  carried  down  stream  a  long  distance  before  get- 


ACCIDENT   AVOIDED.  89 

ting  out.  Approaching  the  man  within  speaking  distance, 
we  learned  that  one  of  the  broad  planks  from  the  sloping 
end  of  the  bridge  was  gone,  but  the  space  being  concealed 
by  the  water,  the  horse  fell  through.  Had  we  not  seen 
this  accident,  one  or  both  of  us  might  have  gone  through 
and  been  drowned.  We  soon  ascertained  that  only  one- 
half  of  the  plank  was  gone,  and  that  the  other  half  might 
be  rode  over.  In  fear  and  trembling  we  rode  over  this 
half-plank,  which  was  under  water  and  out  of  sight,  and 
safely  reached  the  top  of  the  bridge.  The  prospect  was 
not  inviting.  The  valley  was  two  miles  wide,  and  one 
mile  and  a-half  of  it  was  covered  with  water.  Our  way 
was  along  a  corduroy-road,  straight  from  the  end  of  the 
bridge,  across  the  valley.  Over  low,  miry  valleys,  the 
roads  were  often  made,  by  digging  ditches  on  each  side, 
thus  raising  the  way  a  foot  or  two  above  the  general  level. 
Across  this  slightly-raised  road-bed,  logs,  that  is,  trunks  of 
trees,  and  some  of  them  very  large  and  ten  feet  long,  were 
laid  side  by  side.  A  little  earth  was  sometimes  thrown 
between  them,  but  they  were  generally  suffered  to  sink  by 
their  own  weight,  leaving  a  rough  but  hard  surface,  that 
nobody  would  either  ride  or  drive  over  if  there  had  been 
any  other  way  of  passing  the  swampy  vale.  Whenever 
very  high  water  came,  as  was  the  case  now,  the  whole  road 
would  be  covered,  hiding  the  deep  dykes  on  each  side. 
The  course  of  the  road  was  only  visible  by  the  projecting 
end  of  a  log  here  and  there,  or  a  few  logs  that  had  risen, 
and  were  unsteady,  wabbling  about  on  the  surface  of  the 
water.  But  what  made  it  most  dangerous,  were  the  holes 
in  the  road,  concealed  by  the  water.  .  As  the  water  would 


90        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

not  assuage  for  two  or  three  days,  we  did  not  like  to  lose 
that  time,  so  we  ventured  in.  A  painfully  perilous  ride  it 
was;  at  every  step,  expecting  that  both  horse  and  rider 
would  be  down,  floundering  in  the  water;  and  we  verified 
its  dangers,  luckily  neither  fatal  nor  very  injurious.  My 
horse  had  stepped  over  one  of  those  unseen  gaps  under 
water,  made  by  the  loss  of  a  log.  Mrs.  Flower's  horse 
innocently  stepped  with  his  forefeet  over  also,  but  the 
hindfeet  dropped  in,  bringing  the  water  over  the  crupper 
and  up  to  the  seat  of  the  saddle.  For  a  few  moments,  the 
poor  animal  was  standing  half  in  and  half  out  the  water,  at 
an  angle  almost  as  steep  as  the  roof  of  a  house.  The  pres- 
ence of  mind  of  the  rider,  who  gave  a  loose  rein  and  a 
tight  cling  to  the  pommel,  showing  no  fear  by  voice  or 
sudden  motion,  allowed  the  sagacious  animal  to  extricate 
itself,  at  the  unavoidable  risk,  by  its  violent  struggle,  of 
throwing  her  over  its  head.  A  thorough  wetting,  and 
everything  wet  in  the  saddle-bags,  excepting  a  slight  strain 
to  the  horse,  was  the  only  real  injury. 

In  a  few  days  we  had  passed  Pittsburgh,  and  were 
ascending  the  Alleghanies.  The  bracing  atmosphere  of 
the  mountains,  in  the  latter  days  of  October,  made  great- 
coat and  cloak  acceptable.  The  contrast  to  the  hot,  damp 
and  sweltering  atmosphere,  we  had  left,  was  great.  It  is 
astonishing  how  soon  we  are  restored  from  fatigue,  con- 
tracted by  exercise,  in  the  open  air.  Debility  is  of  much 
longer  duration,  from  labor  in  factories,  stores,  and  in 
rooms  warmed  by  stoves.  Hail,  snow,  thunder-storms,  and 
drenching  rains  are^all  restoratives  to  health  and  spirits. 
The  mountains  crossed,  we  halted  at  the  town  of  Cham- 


MR.  FLOWER   SAILS   FOR   ENGLAND.  91 

bersburgh,  at  the  foot  of  the  east  slope  of  the  Alleghanies. 
In  the  comfortable  and  quiet  tavern,  kept  by  Mrs.  Hettick 
and  her  daughters,  Mrs.  Flower  found  convenient  apart- 
ments. I  was  on  my  way  to  Philadelphia  in  twenty-four 
hours.  Here  was  another  parting.  Our  original  number 
were  now  being  widely  separated.  Mr.  Birkbeck's  family 
hundreds  of  miles  west  on  the  frontier.  My  wife  alone  at 
the  foot  of  the  Alleghanies,  and  myself  gone  to  another 
quarter  of  the  globe.  How  different  now  our  situation  to 
what  it  was  four  months  before.  Then  united,  conscious 
of  strength  from  our  union,  ^nd  happiness  from  our 
strength.  Now  divided  by  distance  and  by  time,  each 
fragment  exposed  to  doubt  and  uncertainty,  and,  worst  of 
all,  to  falsehooQl  and  misrepresentation  of  any  designing 
foe.  Each  unit  felt  all  its  responsibilities.  After  brief 
delay  at  Philadelphia,  to  put  Mr.  Birkbeck's  manuscript  in 
the  hands  of  the  publishers,  I  proceeded  on  my  way.  On 
arriving  at  New  York,  I  heard  of  a  ship  on  the  very  eve  of 
departure  for  England.  I  straightway  walked  to  the  dock, 
with  my  saddle-bags  on  my  arm,  and  stepped  on  the 
A /in  Maria,  Isaac  Waite,  captain,  James  Flack,  owner. 

In  five  minutes  we  were  in  motion,  and,  in  half-an-hour 
sailing  on  the  ocean,  with  a  fair  wind  and  a  calm  sea.  As 
the  wind  freshened  the  sea  became  rough  and  angry.  The 
gale  stuck  right  aft  with  such  fidelity  that  we  neither  veered 
nor  tacked  until  we  sighted  the  west  coast  of  Ireland 
which  we  did  on  the  fourteenth  day  after  leaving  the  har- 
bor of  New  York.  A  hard  blow,  as  we  entered  the  Chan  - 
nel,  drove  us  within  fearful  proximity  of  the  Tuscar  light- 
house, whose  lights  glared  ominously  on  our  decks.     The 


92        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

noble  ship,  under  press  of  every  sail,  held  hard  to  the 
wind,  beam  down  and  keel  out,  admirably  answered  to  her 
helm.  It  was  a  fearful  moment.  We  narrowly  escaped 
wreck  and  a  watery  grave  on  that  most  dangerous  coast. 
We  were  two  days  longer,  buffeted  by  contrary  winds  in 
the  Channel,  before  we  entered  the  port  of  Liverpool,  which 
we  did  on  the  seventeenth  day  from  New  York,  then 
thought  to  be  a  very  rapid  passage.  If  there  is  no  purga- 
tory for  man  between  the  upper  and  lower  regions  of  an- 
other world,  there  certainly  is  between  the  eastern  shore 
of  America  and  the  western  shore  of  Europe.  I  suffered 
much  from  sea-sickness  during  the  rough  and  speedy  voy- 
age. If  I  chanced  to  take  a  slight  meal  during  a  tempo- 
rary lull,  I  acted  but  as  steward  for  the  fish.  The  continued 
suffering  of  the  voyage,  after  the  fatigue  of  so  long  and 
laborious  a  ride,  reduced  my  strength  much.  During  the 
winter,  I  was  preparing  and  assisting  others  to  prepare  for 
a  final  emigration  in  the  spring. 

One   copy  of  Birkbeck's  notes*  had   been   left  for  the 

*  "  Notes  of  a  Journey  in  America  from  the  Coast  of  Virginia  to  the  Ter- 
ritory of  Illinois,  by  Morris  Birkbeck,  author  of  'Notes  of  a  Tour  in  France,'  " 
were  published  in  Philadelphia  in  1817,  and  in  London  in  1818.  The  book 
was  very  widely  read  in  England  and  passed  to  a  third  edition.  It  did  much 
to  stimulate  emigration  to  the  English  Colony  in  Edwards  County.  It  was 
translated  into  French  and  published  in  Paris  in  18 19,  under  the  title  of 
*^  Lei  ires  Sur  !es  Nouveanx  Etablissemens  qui  se  forme  ni  dans  les  parties  occi- 
denial  des  Eiats-Unis  Amerique."  The  French  publisher  of  this  volume  has 
an  interesting  preface.  He  says  that  the  work  he  offers  to  the  public  has 
been  published  in  Philadelphia  in  1S18;  that  it  is  written  without  pretension, 
and  has  no  claim  to  literary  merit,  but  that  there  will  be  found  in  it  piquant 
details  upon  the  western  part  of  the  United  States.  Those  far-off  regions 
have  only  a  scattered  population,  and  have  been  but  little  known  up  to  the 
present  time,  and  that,  without  doubt,  it  will  be  interesting  to  read  a  collec- 
tion of  letters  written  from  the  Territory  of  Illinois  by  an  actual  inhabitant  o' 
that  country. 


MR.   FLOWER   IN    ENGLAND.  93 

Philadelphia  press,  another  was  being  printed  in  England. 
The  publication  of  these  notes,  and,  afterward,  a  series  of 
letters  from  the  prairies,  gave  a  wider  range  of  information 
as  to  our  proceedings  and  intentions.  During  the  winter, 
I  was  constantly  applied  to  in  person  and  by  letter  for 
information  and  advice  on  the  subject  of  emigration,  by 
persons  in  every  rank,  but  chiefly  from  those  in  moderate 
circumstances. 

In  describing  western  America,  and  the  mode  of  living 
there,  I  found  some  difficulty  in  giving  a  truthful  picture 
to  the  Englishman  who  had  never  been  out  of  England. 
In  speaking  of  a  field,  the  only  field  he  had  ever  seen  was 
a  plot  of  ground,  from  five  to  fifty  acres  in  extent,  sur- 
rounded by  a  ditch,  a  bank,  and  a  live  hawthorn  fence;  it 
has  two  or  more  well-made  gates,  that  swing  freely  on 
their  hinges,  and  clasp  firmly  when  shut.  The  word  field 
brings  this  picture  to  his  eye.  A  zig-zag  fence  it  is  diffi- 
cult for  him  to  understand,  but  why  gates  should  swing 
freely  on  their  hinges  in  England  and  drag  on  the  ground 
in  America  is  incomprehensible. 

You  tell  of  a  log-house.  The  only  houses  he  has  seen 
are  buildings  with  plastered  or  papered  walls,  with  ceilings 
and  floors,  with  halls,  passages,  cellars,  and  attics,  and  each 
room  furnished  with  a  good  chimney  and  hearth.  The 
simple  log-house  he  can  scarcely  realize.  But  few  can 
comprehend  the  difficulties  arising  from  an  absence  of 
population.  To  try  and  carry  them  from  the  conveniences 
of  civilized  life,  ever  present  to  their  minds,  I  have  said: 
suppose  you  and  your  family  placed  under  a  clump  of  oak 
trees,  such  as  stand  in  an  extensive  and  beautiful  English 


94        ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

park,  with  the  sky  above,  the  earth  below,  no  fence,  no 
house,  and  perhaps  no  person  withhi  twenty  miles,  and  you 
may  have  some  conception  of  your  situation  in  a  new  and 
unpeopled  country.  The  gloomily-disposed  would  shake 
their  heads  in  despondency.  The  sanguine  would  make 
light  of  the  difficulties,  and  be  charmed  with  the  picture. 
So  people  would  reflect  the  color  of  their  own  minds  upon 
the  sketch  you  gave  them. 

The  publication  in  England  of  our  travels,  my  return, 
and  personal  communication  with  a  host  of  individuals, 
had  given  a  wide-spread  knowledge  of  what  we  had  done 
and  what  we  intended  to  do.  Our  call  had  received  a 
response  from  the  farmers  of  England,  the  miners  of  Corn- 
wall, the  drovers  of  Wales,  the  mechanics  of  Scotland, 
the  West- India  planter,  the  inhabitants  of  the  Channel 
Isles,  and  the  "gentleman  of  no  particular  business"  of 
the  Emerald  Isle.  All  were  moving  or  preparing  to 
move  to  join  us  in  another  hemisphere.  The  cockneys 
of  London  had  decided  on  the  reversal  of  their  city 
habits,  to  breathe  the  fresh  air  of  the  prairies.  Parties 
were  moving,  or  preparing  to  move,  in  all  directions.  At 
one  time,  the  movement  appeared  as  if  it  would  be 
national.  Representatives  from  each  locality,  and  de- 
scendants from  every  class  that  I  have  mentioned,  are 
now  living  in  the  English  Settlement  of  Edwards  County, 
Illinois.  The  preparatory  movements  were  completed. 
The  first  act  of  our  drama  here  properly  closes,  and  the 
history  of  the  actual  emigration,  with  the  accidents  and 
incidents  of  the  journeyings  by  sea  and  land,  now  begins. 


CHAPTER   V. 

First  Party  of  Emigrants   Sail   from  Bristol,  in  March,  1818— Many 

of  Mr.  Birkbeck's  Neighbors  and  Acquaintances  among  them 

Letter  of  Richard  Birkbeck— Farm  Operatives  in  England— Per- 
sons composing  the  Party— Land  in  Philadelphia,  in  June,  1818 
— Reach    Pittsburgh  and    descend    the   Ohio   River  to   Shawnee- 

town— Arrive  at  Mr.  Birkbeck's  Cabin  on  Boltenhouse    Prairie 

The    "Barracks  "  —  Sufferings    and    Discomforts    of  the    Party 

Wan  borough  laid  off  by  Mr.  Birkbeck— The  next  Ship -load  of 
Emigrants  sail  in  the  following  Month,  April,  1818— Mr.  Flower's 
Family  with  this  Party — Other  Persons  composing  it— Mr.  Flower 
Journeys  by  Carriage  from  Philadelphia  to  Chambersburgh  with 
his  Family — The  last  Ship-load  of  Emigrants  proceeding  to  their 
Destination — Want  of  Harmony— A  Black  Sheep  in  the  Fold — 
Arrival  at  Pittsburgh— Preparations  to  Descend  the  Ohio  River 
— The  Perils  of  the  Voyage— Stop  at  Shawneetown — The  Appear- 
ance of  that  Village — Mr.  Fordham  comes  from  the  "Settlement" 
to  meet  Mr.  Flower  and  Party  at  Shawneetown — His  Account 
of  Mr.  Birkbeck  and  condition  of  Things  at  the  "Settlement" — 
Preparations  to  receive  the  Emigrants— Log -Cabins  and  Hard 
Food— The  first  Meal  on  their  Arrival— The  blessing  of  an  Iron 
Teakettle— No  Greetings  from  the  Settlement— Mr.  Birkbeck  and 
Mr.  Flower  at  Variance — A  short  Dialogue  between  them,  and 
they  never  Speak  to  each  other  afterward— The  Cause  of  the 
Estrangement— First  Experiences— A  Sickly  Season— A  Time  of 
Trial— Labor  and  Self-Sacrifices  of  Mrs.  Flower— A  Noble  and 
True  Woman— The  first  building  of  Cabins— Close  run  for  Pro- 
visions—Settlement in  Village  Prairie — Emigrants  coming  in — 
Determined  to  lay  out  a  Town— The  spot  Selected— The  Name 
Agreed  upon. 

Early  in   March,    1818,   the  ship  Achilles  sailed   from 


g6        ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

Bristol,  with  the  first  party  of  emigrants  destined  for  our 
settlement  in  Illinois. 

Mr.  Charles  Trimmer  of  Yeatley,  Surrey,  a  young  farmer, 
and  a  neighbor  and  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Birkbeck's,  with 
forty-four  men  and  one  married  woman,  sailed  in  this  ship. 
The  men  were  chiefly  farm-laborers  and  mechanics  from 
Surrey.  Many  of  them  had  for  years  worked  for  Mr.  Birk- 
beck,  others  were  from  his  neighborhood,  and  were  either 
personally  acquainted  or  knew  liim  by  reputation.  This 
party  was  under  the  especial  care  and  leadership  of  Mr. 
Trimmer.  Another  party,  of  about  equal  number,  com- 
posed of  London  mechanics,  and  tradesmen  from  various 
parts  of  England,  formed  another  party  that  sailed  in  the 
same  ship.  These  were  under  the  guidance  and  direction 
of  Mr.  James  Lawrence,  merchant  tailor,  of  Hatton  Gar- 
den, London.  Neither  Mr.  Lawrence  nor  any  one  of  this 
party  had  a'ny  personal  acquaintance  with  either  Mr.  Birk- 
beck  or  myself,  but  received  their  impulse  from  our  pub- 
lished expositions.  Mr.  Lawrence  being  a  man  of  prop- 
erty, a  resident  of  the  city,  and  well  acquainted  with  the 
usages  at  the  docks,  custom-house,  shipping,  etc.,  became 
actually  the  head  of  the  whole  party.  To  him  were 
addressed  the  various  packages  belonging  to  the  emigrants, 
which  he  saw  safely  through  the  custom-house,  and  placed 
securely  on  board  ship.  His  house  became  the  resort  of 
inquirers,  in  quest  of  information.  His  counting-house 
became  a  sort  of  office  for  emigration,  where  I  met  people 
of  all  classes,  to  be  catechised  and  pumped  of  all  I  knew, 
and  everything  they  thought  I  ought  to  know.  To  such  a 
pitch  had  this  grown,  Mr.  Lawrence  must,  I  am  sure,  have 


■Li 


LETTER   OF   RICHARD   BIRKBECK.  97 

felt  a  real  relief  to  be  on  board  ship  and  far  away.  He 
now  began  to  have  a  taste  of  what  it  was  to  become  a 
leader  of  a  people,  although  in  a  fractional  way,  and  on  a 
small  scale. 

I  had  previously  dispatched  to  Mr.  Birkbeck  a  special 
messenger.  A  young  man  from  London,  who  wished  to 
try  his  luck  in  the  new  world,  was  glad  of  the  opportunity 
of  having  his  expenses  paid  to  a  point  so  far  in  the  interior 
of  America,  and  then  take  what  might  turn  up  in  the  lot- 
tery of  life.  By  Mr.  Robert  Walford,  I  sent  Mr.  Birkbeck 
funds,  of  which  I  knew  he  stood  in  need.  Mr.  Walford, 
after  staying  for  some  time  in  the  Settlement,  finding  no 
suitable  occupation,  went  to  Louisville,  and  opened  busi- 
ness  as  an  accountant,  in  which  he  succeeded,  married, 
raised  a  family,  and  is,  I  believe,  now  living. 

I  here  insert  a  part  of  a  letter  from  Richard  Birkbeck 
(Mr.  Birkbeck's  eldest  son),  who  was  left  in  England  to 
wind  up  his  father's  affairs  at  Wanborough.  This  letter  is 
chiefly  interesting  to  the  American  reader,  as  showing  the 
scale  on  which  some  English  tenants  carry  on  their  farms: 

"Wanborough,  January  i8,  1818. 
''My  dear  Father: — George  Flower  is  now  here,  and  has 
been  here  for  nearly  a  week.  With  this  you  will  have  a  let- 
ter of  credit  to  the  amount  of  ^3003,  that  is  $15,000,  and 
hope,  according  to  the  following  statement,  to  send  out  an- 
other sum  of  nearly  the  same  amount,  by  George  Flower,  in 
April.  You  will  know  that  I  have,  by  this  time,  given  up 
possession  of  Wanborough  on  the  first  instant,  excepting 
the  barn-yard,  from  that  I  shall  clear  everything  off  by  the 

first  of  April.     I  have  received  the  amounts: 
7 


98        ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

Of  the  valuation  of  plowing,       -     £1473 

Of  the  underwoods,  -         -  1 001   7s.  6d. 


;^2474  7s.  6d. 

"The  above  sum  is  the  foundation  of  the  letter  of  credit 
you  now  receive.  The  money  previously  received  is  in  two 
sums,  one  of  a  £1000,  the  other  of  ;^700.  By  the  follow- 
ing account,  you  may  judge  in  some  measure  of  the  proba- 
ble value  of  your  property: 

Sheep,  -------  £1200 

0       Horses,       ------  400 

Wheat,  -         - 400 

Wool,          ------  700 

Barley,  Oats,  Peas,  and  Beans,        -         -  1000 

Good-will  for  my  quitting  the  farm,     -  2000 

Dung  to  be  paid  for  by  James  Onslow,  -  1000 


^^8700 

"This  is  the  rough  estimate;  you  may  consider  it  nearly 
what  the  sum  will  be.  I  hope  the  sum  does  not  fall  short 
of  your  expectations.     I  think  it  exceeds  our  estimate." 

From  this  we  may  form  some  idea  of  the  manner  in 
which  an  English  farm  is  conducted.  Although  Mr.  Birk- 
beck  left  the  farm  legally  on  the  first  of  January,  the 
occupation  and  tillage  was  carried  on  up  to  the  very  day 
the  incoming  tenant  took  possession.  The  item  ;^I473,  or 
$7000,  is  for  ploughing  and  tilling,  in  preparation  for  the 
next  crop.  ^^5000  more,  the  value  of  the  underbrush  of 
the  wood,  just  ready  to  be  cut  and  made  into  faggots  and 
hoop-poles.     All  the  operations  of  the  farm  went  on  from 


RONALDS,    LAWRENCE,   AND   TRIMMER.  99 

hand  to  hand,  uninterrupted  by  any  change.  The  landlord 
pay  $5000  for  dung  left  in  the  farm-yard,  being  so  much 
more  than  the  tenant  received  when  he  took  possession  of 
the  farm,  some  fifteen  years  before.  The  farm  may  change 
hands,  but  the  farmer  never  dies.  The  system  of  cultiva- 
tion is  not  disturbed  by  the  removal  or  death  of  either 
landlord  or  tenant.  The  ^11,174  7s.  6d.,  or,  in  round 
numbers,  $55,000,  may  be  considered  as  his  subscription 
toward  laying  the  foundation  of  the  English  Settlement! 

In  the  Bristol  ship,  besides  Mr.  Lawrence  and  Trimmer, 
was  Mr.  Hugh  Ronalds,  gentleman  from  Hammersmith, 
near  London.  Mr.  Hugh  Ronalds  became  my  brother-in- 
law,  by  marrying  my  second  sister,  Miss  Mary  Catherine 
Flower,  and  was  for  many  years  my  near  neighbor  in  Illi- 
nois, at  his  pleasant  residence  of  Hazle  Hill,  about  half- 
a-mile  from  Park  House,  and  one  mile  from  Albion.  Mr. 
Ronalds,  for  many  years,  carried  on  a  tannery  near  Albion. 
Several  years  a  widower,  his  family  grown  and  settled,  he 
now  resides  comfortably  on  his  income  at  Grayville,  ten 
miles  from  his  former  residence  near  Albion,  enjoying  his 
two  favorite  pursuits,  horticulture  and  literature. 

The  Lawrence -and -Trimmer  party  landed  safely  at 
Philadelphia  early  in  June.  They  made  their  way  some 
in  wagons  some  on  horseback,  over  the  mountains  to  Pitts- 
burgh, then  descending  the  Ohio  in  flat-boats  to  Shaw- 
neetown,  in  August,  proceeded  without  delay  on  foot,  in 
wagons  and  on  horseback,  to  Mr.  Birkbeck's  cabin  on  the 
Boltenhouse  Prairie.  Of  this  first  party  Mr.  Birkbeck  had 
long  notice,  and  he  had  made  for  them  the  best  prepara- 
tion he  could.     He  had   erected  a  square  of  rough  log- 


100     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

cabins,  with  two  doors  in  each,  and  a  small  sash-window 
in  every  door.  This  rendezvous,  afterward  called  the  bar- 
racks, was  for  all  comers.  Into  this  the  first  ship's  com- 
pany— eighty -eight  in  number — went,  all  men,  excepting 
three  women.  I  must  leave  to  imagination  the  various 
feelings  of  its  motly  inmates,  some  used  to  the  refinements 
of  civilized  life;  all  to  the  comfort  of  a  home  however 
humble;  some  without  money,  all  for  a  time  without  occu- 
pation ;  without  vegetables ;  corn-bread  and  salt  pork  their 
only  diet;  whisky  their  sole  luxury  and  consolation,  and 
some  not  able  to  get  that.  It  was  for  a  time  a  fermenting 
mass.  Strange  and  conflicting  emotions  exhibited  them- 
selves in  ludicrous  succession.  Some  laughed  and  joked  ; 
some  moped  and  sulked;  some  cursed  and  swore.  Things 
worked  right  in  time.  The  activity  and  energy  of  the 
national  character  were  soon  displayed. 

The  village  of  Wanborough  was  laid  off  by  Mr.  Birk- 
beck  in  five-acre  lots.  On  these  were  built  cabins,  rented 
by  some,  bought  by  others.  A  good  ox-mill  and  black- 
smith's-shop  were  soon  after  added  to  the  village.  At 
this  time,  almost  all  the  five-acre  lots  are  purchased  and 
thrown  together  or  are  attached  to  adjacent  farms. 

The  next  ship  with  emigrants  for  the  prairies,  which 
sailed  from  Liverpool  in  the  following  month  of  April, 
was  chartered  by  myself  for  the  party  that  came  with  me. 
My  own  immediate  family  and  friends  occupied  the  cabin; 
my  domestic  servants,  and  other  emigrants  going  out  to 
join  us,  filled  the  steerage;  and  my  live-stock  of  cows, 
hogs,  and  sheep,  of  the  choicest  breeds  of  England,  took 
up  all  the  spare  room  on  deck.     My  father  and  mother,  in 


THE   EMIGRANTS.  lOI 

easy  circumstances,  and  aged  sixty-three,  accompanied  me, 
with  my  two  sisters,  young  women  grown,  one  brother, 
WilHam,  a  young  man,  the  other,  Edward,  a  lad,  Miss 
Fordham,  my  cousin,  going  to  join  her  brother  in  Ilhnois, 
with  three  attached  female  and  one  man-servant.  The 
family  of  these  most  respectable  people  had  lived  with  our 
family  for  three  generations,  and  a  distant  removal  could 
not  now  separate  us.  These,  with  myself  and  my  two 
sons,  young  boys,  were  my  immediate  family  party.  But 
going  to  our  settlement  in  this  ship  were  also  Mr.  Francis 
Rotch  and  brother,  friends  of  Mr.  Birkbeck,  and  Mr.  Filder, 
a  gentleman  rather  advanced  in  years,  a  man  of  consider- 
able property;  Dr.  C.  Pugsley  and  wife,  and  small  family, 
from  London;  and  Mr.  Adam  Corrie,  I  think,  from  the 
county  of  Nottingham,  were  also  passengers.  Besides  these 
was  Mr.  John  Wood,  then  a  young  man,  now  with  gray 
locks,  the  father  of  a  large  family,  a  respectable  and  prosr 
perous  farmer,  near  Albion,  living  in  a  good  brick-house, 
on  a  fine  farm,  and  surrounded  by  all  rural  comfort  that 
a  man  need  desire;  also,  Mr.  John  Ingle,  and  his  family, 
from  Cambridgeshire.  Mr.  Ingle  is  now  living  near  Evans- 
ville,  and  his  son,  John  Ingle,  junior,  is  a  prominent  pro- 
fessional man,  engaged  in  all  the  public  business  of  the 
city.  Mr.  David  Bennett,  and  family,  Mr.  White,  and  family, 
carpenter  and  builder,  from  London,  Captain  (baptismal 
name)  Stone,  wife,  and  family,  were  also  of  the  company. 
Mr.  Stone  was  steward  on  my  farm  in  England.  He  now 
had  the  care  of  my  cattle,  sheep,  and  swine.  These,  and 
some  other  names  not  recollected,  made  a  party  of  three 
score  and  more,  bound  to  our  settlement.    It  was  the  same 


102     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

ship,  the  Ann  Maria,  and  the  same  captain,  that  brought 
me  over  so  safely  and  rapidly  in  the  previous  fall.  We 
arrived  without  accident  at  New  York,  after  a  passage  of 
fifty  days,  and  but  one  week  after  the  Bristol  ship,  that 
sailed  a  month  before  us.  To  remove  all  these  people  and 
their  luggage,  and  the  animals  that  I  had  brought,  to  our 
Settlement,  nearly  a  thousand  miles  inland,  was  no  smah 
undertaking,  at  a  time  when  there  was  neither  turnpike 
nor  railroad,  and  steam-boats  few,  and  in  the  infancy  of 
their  management.  Patience,  toil,  time,  and  money  were 
all  required  and  all  were  freely  bestowed. 

On  reaching  land,  the  ship's  party  was  broken  up,  and 
smaller  parties  were  formed  of  people  of  similar  habits 
and  tastes,  clubbing  together  for  mutual  assistance  on  the 
way.  Those  of  small  means,  proceeded  on  without  loss  of 
time.  Those  of  more  means,  lingered  a  little  in  the  cities, 
and  with  their  new  friends,  before  taking  their  departure 
for  what  was  then  the  Far- West. 

Mr.  John  Wood,  Mr.  Ingle,  Mr.  White,  and  Mr.  Bennett 
formed  a  party  for  travel,  on  their  arrival  at  Pittsburgh, 
purchased  a  covered  flat-boat,  and  descended  the  Ohio 
River  together.  Mr.  Filder,  I  think,  bought  a  horse,  and 
rode  the  whole  distance  to  Vincennes,  on  the  Wabash. 
The  Rotches,  brothers,  came,  I  think,  with  my  father's 
party  as  far  as  Cincinnati,  from  thence  on  horseback.  My 
father's  family  spent  the  first  winter  in  Lexington,  Ky., 
whilst  I  was  preparing  their  residence  in  Illinois.  In  this 
manner,  the  various  individuals  and  parties  made  the 
best  way  they  could.  Some  of  them  were  joined  by 
individuals   and   families  of   English,   that  were   lingering 


TRAVELING   WEST.  IO3 

on  the  sea- board,  without  any  specific  reference  to  our 
Settlement;  but  seeing  the  emigration,  and  having  read 
the  pubhcations,  joined  and  went  on.  I  think  every 
accession  from  the  East  was  English.  Not  an  Ameri- 
can joined  us,  excepting  one,  a  Captain  Kenyon,  of  a 
merchant -vessel  formerly  trading  to  India.  He  came 
in  my  boat  down  the  Ohio.  He  was  not  a  man  suited 
to  the  Settlement  by  previous  habits.  An  unavailable 
member,  he  did  not  stay  long  in  the  Settlement.  I  had 
traveled  much  before  this  trip.  First,  my  journey  alone, 
two  thousand  miles;  then  with  Mr.  Birkbeck's  party  west- 
ward; and  the  return  with  my  wife,  another  one  thou- 
sand miles;  but  always  on  horseback.  Now  I  was  to 
enter  on  a  new  experience  of  travel.  With  a  covered 
traveling- carriage,  strongly  built  but  light,  and  a  capital 
pair  of  horses,  I  drove  from  Philadelphia  to  Chambersburgh. 
I  had  often  driven  on  English  roads,  but  never  before  on 
American.  The  roads  were  then  for  the  most  part  in  their 
natural  state,  pretty  good  when  dry,  almost  impassable  for 
mud  if  the  weather  was  wet,  and,  in  both  cases,  plentifully 
set  with  stumps.  In  many  parts  of  the  Alleghany  Moun- 
tains, the  road  was  merely  a  track  made  by  the  wagons 
from  Philadelphia,  going  up  the  easiest  watercourse  on  the 
mountain  side,  with  all  the  large  boulders  unbroken,  giving 
us  severe  bumps,  and  sudden  and  dangerous  descents. 
The  charge  for  carriage  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburgh 
was  reduced  then  to  $7  per  hundred  pounds.  With  me,  in 
my  carriage,  I  took  my  two  sons  and  Miss  Maria  Fordham. 
My  father  and  mother  and  sisters,  resting  longer  at  Phila- 
delphia, traveling  more  deliberately,  and  proposing  to  pass 


104     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

the  winter  at  Lexington,  Kentucky,  Miss  Fordham  took  a 
seat  in  my  carriage,  to  accompany  me  and  my  wife  to 
Illinois.  The  roads  were  good  to  Chambersburgh,  and  I 
rapidly  drove  along. 

My  wife  and  I  were  once  more  together,  and  with  us  a 
little  daughter,  but  a  few  weeks  old.  We  stayed  awhile  at 
Chambersburgh,  to  make  acknowledgment  to  our  newly- 
found  friends  there  who  had  been  so  kind  to  Mrs.  Flower 
during  her  long  and  anxious  solitude.  Conspicuous  among 
these  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Calhoon.  Mr.  Calhoon  was 
cashier  of  the  bank,  and  all  our  little  money  matters 
passed  through  his  hands.  To  others,  unnecessary  to 
name,  equally  solicitous  and  watchful  in  taking  every 
opportunity  in  doing  a  kindness,  we  shall  ever  bear  grati- 
tude in  our  hearts. 

My  carriage  was  soon  filled,  my  horses  were  strong,  and 
we  were  proceeding  onward  to  a  given  point,  in  the  pleas- 
ing hope  of  meeting  again,  in  the  prairies,  the  friends  we 
had  left  at  Princeton,  and  of  carrying  out  together  the 
scheme  of  emigration  and  settlement  that  we  had  begun 
and  thus  far  carried  on  to  a  successful  point.  The  various 
objects  we  had  in  view,  for  which  I  was  sent  to  England, 
were  all  accomplished  with  singular  success.  My  voyage 
across  the  Atlantic  was  of  unusual  speed.  The  funds  for 
Mr.  Birkbeck  were  safely  sent,  exceeding  somewhat  in 
amount  his  own  expectations.  The  publications  made  by 
book,  pamphlet,  and  newspaper  had  excited  general  atten- 
tion. By  a  singular  coincidence,  my  father  had  sold,  a 
few  days  before  my  arrival  in  England,  his  dwelling  and 
lands  in  Marden  for  ^^23,000,  thus  giving  to  himself,  my 


A   BLACK    SHEEP.  I05 

mother,  brothers,  and  sisters,  an  opportunity  of  returning 
with  me  in  the  spring,  which  they  wilhngly  embraced,  to 
take  up  their  abode  in  the  prairies. 

Both  ships  arrived  in  America  without  accident,  most  of 
the  people  had  crossed  the  mountains  in  health,  and  many 
of  these,  by  the  time  I  got  to  Pittsburgh,  were  proceeding 
down  the  Ohio  River  to  their  ultimate  destination.  Every- 
thing worked  smoothly;  success  was  attained,  but  harmony 
was  not. 

Who  can  calculate  the  extent  of  mischief  spread  by  an 
envious  temper,  a  false  heart,  and  a  loose  tongue.  There 
came  over  in  my  ship,  as  I  have  before  stated,  a  doctor 
from  London,  a  man  of  some  skill  in  his  profession,  with  a 
pretty  wife.  They  assumed  to  be  fashionable  people,  and 
were  so,  but  of  that  part  of  fashion  which  assumes  some- 
thing of  its  external  appearance,  without  possessing  any  of 
its  sterling  qualities.  I  had  no  particular  knowledge  of 
him,  but  wishing  to  come  to  our  Settlement,  and  reputed 
of  some  skill,  I  gave  him  every  information  and  all  facili- 
ties. Having  made  his  neighborhood  in  England  too  hot 
to  hold  him,  he  for  some  time  disturbed  our  Settlement, 
until  he  went  elsewhere  to  follow  his  unhappy  instincts. 
He  made  a  point  of  coming  out  in  my  ship,  and,  unfortu- 
nately for  the  peace  of  our  neighborhood,  bought  a  town- 
share,  and  so  became  a  town-proprietor.  I  note  the  un- 
happy propensities  of  this  man  as  a  prominent  cause  of 
the  troubles  which  for  a  time  disturbed  our  Settlement. 

Many  of  us  bound  for  Illinois  met  at  Pittsburgh.  Some 
were  ruffled  in  temper.  All  seemed  to  be  more  or  less 
disturbed  by  the  roughness  of  the  journey  passed,  and  in 


I06     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

» 
anticipation  of  the  new  experiences  on  the  river  to  come. 

A  week  was  often  lost  at  Pittsburgh  in  fitting  up  boats  or 
chaffering  for  horses.  Some  were  buying  flat-boats,  some 
purchased  skiffs,  fitted  with  an  awning,  for  one  or  two 
persons;  some  determined  to  take  it  on  horseback;  but 
most  of  them  went  down  the  river.  Here  my  brother 
William  joined  me,  and  gave  me  great  assistance  on  the 
voyage  and  the  first  two  months  in  Illinois.  I  purchased 
a  keel-boat  and  a  flat-boat,  and  lashed  them  together, 
the  former  for  my  family,  the  latter  for  my  horses;  car- 
riage fastened  on  the  top  of  the  flat;  four  English  farm- 
laborers  for  oarsmen.  With  difficulty,  I  procured  a  pilot, 
who  engaged  to  go  a  hundred  and  fifty  mjles  with  me 
down  the  river.  But  he  left  me  just  before  coming  to  a 
difficult  part  of  the  river,  called  Dead  Man's  Shoal.  There 
was  no  other  resource,  I  had  to  take  the  steering-oar,  and 
was  soon  aground.  With  much  labor  and  difficulty  we 
got  off,  poling  and  shoving  up  to  our  knees  in  the  river, 
trying  to  get  the  boat  off.  With  a  "Pittsburgh  Naviga- 
tor" (a  book  with  a  map  of  the  river,  in  which  all  the 
islands,  shoals,  and  dangerous  places  are  laid  down,)  in  one 
hand,  and  the  steering-oar  in  the  other,  I  took  my  station 
at  the  helm.  With  my  total  inexperience,  I  found  my 
new  position  both  anxious  and  laborious.  The  labor  and 
exposure  I  did  not  mind,  but  the  constant  watching  and 
state  of  doubt  was  trying.  I  got  on  pretty  v/ell,  going 
along  by  day  and  tying  up  at  night.  Put  it  was  not 
all  smooth  sailing.  I  got  into  one  dangerous  scrape,  and 
out  of  it,  too,  as  luck  would  have  it.  It  was  this:  The 
"Navigator"  had  described  a  certain  island  of  great  length 


DOWN    THE   OHIO    RIVER.  10/ 

close  to  the  north  shore,  with  a  narrow  and  dangerous 
channel  of  rapid  water,  as  especially  dangerous,  and  to 
be  avoided  by  every  craft  descending  the  river.  I  had 
been  long  looking  for  this  island,  and  presently  it  came 
in  sight.  I  was  approaching  it  in  the  middle  of  the 
river,  a  very  considerable  distance  off.  I  was  not  suffi- 
ciently aware  of  the  distance  a  sand-bar  extended  from 
a  point  of  an  island.  When  about  to  steer  for  the  Ken- 
tucky shore,  my  boats  grounded.  In  pushing  off,  we 
were  swung  round  into  the  current  leading  into  the  very 
channel  we  were  warned  to  avoid.  I  felt,  as  we  approached 
the  danger,  as  a  man  may  be  supposed  to  feel  when  he 
finds  himself  and  craft  drawing  into  the  waters  of  Niagara. 
I  was,  for  a  short  time,  uncertain,  weak,  and  helpless, 
through  sheer  fright.  Our  two  boats,  lashed  together, 
entered  the  dark  channel,  overhung  by  trees.  The  water 
was  running  at  a  rapid  rate,  and  the  channel  was  full 
of  black  and  dangerous  snags.  I  called  to  the  oarsmen 
to  give  way  with  all  their  might.  Seizing  the  steering- 
oar  myself,  which  felt  in  my  hands  as  light  as  a  feather, 
giving  it  sudden  twists  and  turns  to  port  and  lee,  going 
through  the  crooked  channel  with  scarce  room  to  pass 
between  the  snags,  we  eventually  came  out  safe.  Passing 
a  flat-boat  tied  up  in  the  stream  beyond,  I  was  accosted 
by  the  old  man,  as  he  sat  smoking  his  pipe  on  the  roof 
of  his  boat,  "I  say,  stranger,  you  must  be  a  mighty  favor- 
ite summers  to  get  through  with  your  two  boats  from 
that  devil's  race-course!" 

I  have  found  at  other  times,  as  then,  if  surprised    by 
sudden  danger  alone,  after  the  first  moments  of  appalling 


I08     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

fear,  strength  as  suddenly  comes,  and  you  overcome.  I 
suppose  the  god  that  lies  dormant  in  every  human  breast _ 
suddenly  awakes  and  carries  him  through.  At  Cincinnati, 
my  crew  deserted  me,  and  it  was  some  days  before  I 
could  muster  another.  As  we  were  floating  along,  one 
warm  summer  day,  my  eldest  son,  Richard,  walking  on 
a  narrow  pathway  between  the  body  of  the  boat  and 
the  edge,  missed  his  foothold,  and  fell  into  the  river. 
Mr.  Hayward,  a  young  gentleman  from  Oxfordshire, 
whom  we  had  taken  into  our  boat,  heard  the  splash,  and 
plunged  in;  both  child  and  man  disappeared.  They 
came  to  the  surface,  Hayward  holding  the  child  by  the 
coat- collar.  They  were  on  the  lower  side  of  the  boat. 
Hayward,  who  was  a  good  swimmer,  finding  the  boat 
press  against  them,  with  great  presence  of  mind  dived, 
with  the  child  in  his  arms,  under  the  boat,  and  came  up 
on  the  other  side,  where  I  first  lifted  my  son  from  the 
water,  and  then  assisted  Hayward  on  board.  Very  for- 
tunately, no  other  injuries  were  experienced  than  a  fright 
and  a  drenching.  They  were  soon  made  comfortable  by 
a  change  of  clothing. 

A  few  little  incidents  and  we  arrived  at  Shawneetown, 
a  fortnight  after  Trimmer  and  Lawrence's  party  arrived 
at  the  same  place;  and  a  poor  little  village  it  was,  of  log- 
cabins  and  a  few  light  frame-houses.  It  was  occasionally 
subject  to  deep  inundations  from  the  floods  of  the  Ohio 
River.  The  situation  of  Shawneetown  is  handsome,  com- 
manding long  reaches'  of  the  Ohio  River,  up  and  down 
stream.  At  that  time,  it  was  the  only  town  in  Southern 
Illinois,   if  we  except   Carmi,  thirty   miles   north,  on   the 


NEWS   FROM    THE    SETTLEMENT.  IO9 

Wabash,  the  county-seat  of  White  County,  then  a  very 
small  place. 

Leaving  my  boats,  I  again  proceeded  by  land  in  my 
Philadelphia  vehicle,  with  two  famous  grays.  Myself,  my 
wife,  my  two  sons,  and  Miss  Fordham,  rode  in  the  carriage, 
which  was  filled  with  articles  of  the  first  necessity.  My 
brother  William,  rode  on  horseback.  Mr.  Fordham,  who 
had  come  to  meet  me,  was  also  on  horseback.  He  had 
remained  with  Mr.  Birkbeck's  family  during  the  winter; 
making  frequent  excursions  into  the  prairies,  to  assist  in 
the  preparatory  arrangements,  as  well  as  more  distant 
journeys  to  Cincinnati  and  Louisville,  for  a  variety  of  arti- 
cles, with  which  he  loaded  a  flat-boat  and  descended  the 
Ohio.  From  him  we  learned  all  the  news  of  the  Settle- 
ment; the  arrival  of  Lawrence  and  Trimmer's  party,  and 
various  horsemen  who  had  come  overland  from  Cincinnati. 
All  these  were  for  the  time  occupants  of  the  hollow-square 
of  log-cabins,  afterward  facetiously  called  the  "barracks"' 
from  its  limited  space,  offering  unavoidably  but  limited 
accommodations  to  any,  and  this  was  becoming  more  and 
more  crowded  every  day.  Mr.  Birkbeck's  family  occupied 
two  cabins  at  some  little  distance  from  the  general  rendez- 
vous. 

Enquiring  of  the  health  and  condition  of  everybody,  he 
he  said  they  were  generally  well,  but  Mr.  Birkbeck  he 
thought  had  somewhat  changed.  He  looked  older,  was 
rather  testy,  and  occasionally  gave  short  answers,  and  said 
some  other  things  that  rather  surprised  me.  Mr.  Fordham 
also  told  me  that  he  had  built  two  cabins  on  my  land. 
Near   to  one  he  had  dug   a  well.     In   this  cabin  he  had 


no     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

placed  a  French-Canadian  family,  from  Cattinet,  that  there 
might  be  some  human  beings  on  the  place.  The  other  he 
had  built  a-quarter  of  a  mile  off  on  a  more  beautiful  site, 
a  situation  which  he  thought  I  should  like  as  my  perma- 
nent residence.  After  hearing  all  this,  I  decided  to  drive 
to  the  last-described  cabin.  After  a  drive  of  sixty  miles 
in  two  days,  we  were  at  the  prairies.  I  entered  the  prairie 
at  the  same  spot  from  which  we  had  first  seen  it;  now  with 
quite  different  feelings  and  other  cares.  On  entering  the 
prairie,  my  large  horses  were  covered  with  the  tall  prairie- 
grass,  and  laboriously  dragged  the  heavy-laden  vehicle. 
The  cabin  built  for  me  was  well  sheltered  by  wood  from 
the  north  and  east,  with  an  arm  of  the  prairie  lying  south 
in  a  gently-descending  slope  for  a-quarter  of  a  mile,  it  was 
as  pretty  a  situation  as  could  be  desired.  The  cabin  could 
not  boast  of  many  comforts.  With  a  clap-board  roof,  held 
on  by  weight -poles,  and  a  rough  puncheon  floor,  it  had 
neither  door  nor  window.  Two  door-ways  were  cut  out, 
and  the  rough  logs  were  scutched  down  inside.  All  the 
chips  and  ends  of  logs  left  by  the  backwoods  builders  lay 
strewed  upon  the  floor  We  were  now  face  to  face  with 
the  privations  and  difficulties  of  a  first  settlement  in  the 
wilderness.  But  greater  than  all  other  inconveniences  was 
the  want  of  water.  There  was  no  water  nearer  than  the 
cabin  in  which  the  French  family  lived,  a-quarter  of  a  mile 
off. 

It  is  impossible  for  any  one  living  in  old  countries, 
where  the  common  conveniences  of  life  have  been  accumu- 
lating for  centuries  and  ages,  to  understand  the  situation 
of  an   individual  or  small   family  when  first  alighting   in 


THE   FIRST   EXPERIENCE.  Ill 

the  prairies  without  even  that  indirect  aid  from  art  and 
cultivation  common  to  all  in  a  civilized  community. 

The  poorest  man  in  an  old  country  things  nothing  of  a 
road  or  a  path,  or  a  drink  of  water  from  a  well.  He  is  the 
owner  or  occupier  of  some  sort  of  a  house,  maybe  a  small 
cottage,  but  even  he  can  shut  his  door  against  a  storm, 
and  crouch  in  safety  before  a  small  fire,  made  in  ■&.  fireplace, 
perhaps  enjoying  the  luxuries  of  a  three-legged  stool  and 
a  small  deal -table,  some  shed  outside  to  tie  up  a  horse  or 
cow.  Not  so  here.  A  rough  roof  and  a  rough  floor  we 
had,  and  that  was  all.  In  three  days  the  Frenchman, 
Jean  Mummonie,  brought  us  a  turkey,  for  which  we  paid 
him  a  quarter-dollar,  but  there  were  two  days  to  live  before 
the  turkey  came.  The  floor  was  cleared,  and  a  fire  kindled 
in  a  hole  where  a  hearth  was  to  be.  One  of  us  had 
a-half-mile  trip  for  the  water.  Then  for  the  first  time 
we  knew  the  blessing  of  an  iron  teakettle.  Our  first  meal 
on  the  floor  from  such  provisions  as  the  carriage  afforded, 
crackers,  cheese,  and  tea  without  milk,  drank  alternately 
from  one  or  two  tin  cups.  Some  sitting,  some  kneeling, 
some  stretched  at  length,  resting  on  an  elbow,  ancient 
fashion.  This  may  be  called  beginning  at  the  beginning. 
Romantic  certainly.  Picturesque  to  be  sure.  The  gypsies 
in  England,  in  their  snug  tents,  sheltered  by  pleasant  haw- 
thorn hedges,  camp-kettles  teeming  with  savory  hare,  par- 
tridge, and  trout,  raised  at  other  folks'  expense,  we  were 
far  before  or  behind  them,  as  the  case  may  be  viewed. 
But  then  I  was  in  my  own  house,  on  my  own  land,  in  a 
free  ^nd  independent  Republic,  might  cast  my  vote  into 
any  hollow  tree  for  coon  or  'possum  to  be  president  of  the 


112     ENGLISH    SETTLEMEN't   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

United  States.     All  this  is  very  sustaining  to  a  patriotic 

heart  just  from  Europe,  from  the  terribly-oppressing  kings, 

dukes,  priests  that  we  hear  so  much  about.     But  for  this, 

how  could  we  have  stood  it  ?     The  second  day  was  only  a 

Jittle  more  embarrassing  than  the  first.     Our  horses,  untied 

from  the  carriage-wheels,  had  to  be  led  to  grass,  or  grass 

cut   for  them   by  our  pocket-knives.      The  second   night 

came;   what,  nobody  from  the   Settlement  only  two  miles 

off;  what  did  this  mean.'' 

On  the  third  day  after  my  arrival,  I   took  my  horse  and 

rode  over  to  Mr.  Birkbeck's  cabin.     When  almost  in  the 

act  of  dismounting,   I  saw   him   rise   from  his   seat,  from 

under    the  shade  of   an  oak    that    stood    opposite  to    his 

cabin  door.     He  passed  before  my  horse's  head  into  the 

cabin,  pale,  haggard,  and  agitated.     With  eyes  cast  down, 

and  shaking  his  head,  he  said:  "No,  we  can  not  meet,  I 

can  not  see  you."     Sitting  on  my  horse,  and  looking  at 

him  in  wonder,   I  said:  "We  must  meet,  our  property  is 

undivided,  business  is  urgent,  heavy  payments  are  to  be 

provided    for   freight  and    charges."      But  what!      "Stop, 

stop,"  said  he,  "let  a  third  person  arrange  all."     "So  be 

it,"  said   I,  and  rode  on.     These  were  the  last  words  that 

ever  passed   between  us.     When  we  take  a  cold,  we  are 

troubled  to  know  how  it  happened,  and  think  if  we  had 

taken    an    umbrella,  or    put    on  a  great-coat,  or  changed 

our  shoes,  or  done  something  we  had  not  done,  we  should 

not  have  got  it.     So  it  is  in  our  moral  diseases.     We  can 

• 
not    help  looking    back  to  see  how  they  came.      Was  it 

both  of  us  leaving  him  at  Princeton  alone  with  his  family 

on  the  frontier.'     We  did  not  consider,  perhaps,  sufficiently 


WHAT   CAUSED   THE   DIFFERENCE.  II3 

at  the  time  that  the  absence  of  both  myself  and  wife 
would  leave  a  dreary,  void,  and  lonely  winter  for  our  aged 
friend.  We,  in  the  vigor  of  our  years  and  affection  for 
each  others,  perhaps,  overlooked  this,  and,  possibly,  he 
might  feel  somewhat  aggrieved  on  that  account  in  the 
solitary  winter  he  had  to  pass,  for  a  father  with  his  chil- 
dren only  is  in  some  sort  a  solitary  being.  He  might 
feel  that  he  was  deserted,  and  a  thought  may  have  crossed 
his  mind  that  we  might  never  return.  I  think  he  felt 
something  of  this  sort  from  an  expression  in  a  letter  to 
an  intimate  friend  in  England,  where  he  said:  "You  will 
see  Mr.  George  Flower,  who  intends  to  return  in  the  spring, 
but  we  all  know  when  time  and  distance  intervene,  they 
are  great  barriers  to  the  execution  of  our  intentions."  I 
was  struck  with  the  sentence  when  I  saw  it,  but  the  friend 
had  no  such  doubt,  for  he  put  into  my  hands  a  considera- 
ble sum  of  money,  to  be  especially  invested.  Then  again, 
instead  of  riding  on  with  some  feeling  of  injury  at  my 
reception,  had  I  dismounted  and  insisted  on  an  explana- 
tion, things  might  have  been  different.  But  all  this  is 
only  saying  if  things  were  different  to  what  they  are, 
they  would  not  be  as  they  are.  From  that  eternal  chain 
ever  lengthening,  but  never  ending,  the  effect  of  today, 
the  cause  of  tomorrow,  what  mortal  power  can  change 
the  smallest  link.?  This  is  no  place  for  metaphysical  dis- 
quisitions, but  a  relation  of  events  as  they  occurred. 

Here   let   me  pause  in   the  narrative,    to  do  justice   to 

ourselves  in  our  after  unfortunate  and  unpleasant  situation. 

We  never  quarrelled    or    descended    to  altercation,  never 

spoke  ill  of  each  other,  and  never,  as  I  believe,  attempted 

8 


114     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

to  do  each  other  any  injury.  We  were  silent  ever  after,  as 
if  we  ig-nored  each  other's  existence.  The  hne  of  demar- 
cation  between  our  lands  was  about  three  miles  long. 
Ever  after,  I  worked  on  one  side,  he  on  the  other.  When 
strangers  visited  the  Settlement,  they  called  on  each  of 
us.  I  say  this  in  contradiction  to  the  extraordinary  false- 
hoods promulgated  at  the  time.  Regret  and  sorrow  were, 
no  doubt,  the  prevailing  feelings  in  each  breast.* 

But  we  were  now  parted  forever,  and  in  that  situation 
were,  with  all  our  caution,  very  much  at  the  mere}'  of 
go-betweens  and  tale-bearers,  ever  to  be  found  on  an 
errand  of  mischief.  There  had  arrived  before  me  in  Wan- 
borough,  a  man  of  parts  and  education.  He  had  made 
calculations,  before  leaving  the  old  country,  to  settle  at 
the  prairies,  and  there  form  his  domestic  relations.  In 
this  he  was  disappointed,  and  bore  no  friendly  feeling  to 
me  in  consequence. 

The  void  which  our  silence  left  was  more  than  filled 
up  by  our  intermeddling  neighbors,  and  Mr.  Birkbeck's 
annoyance,  from  indiscreet  partizanship,  was  much  greater 

*  It  would  be  useless  at  this  remote  period  to  inquire  into  the  causes  that 
led  to  the  severance  of  the  friendly  relations  between  these  founders  of  the 
English  Settlement  in  Edwards  County.  It  was  undoubtedly  a  great  misfor- 
tune to  the  Colony  at  that  time,  because  both  of  the  men  had  strong  friends, 
who  formed  themselves  into  Birkbeck  and  Flower  parties,  and  which,  no 
doubt,  impeded  the  growth  and  prosf)erity  of  the  Colony.  While  the  friends 
of  both  of  these  men  were  much  excited,  and  although  they  were  estranged 
from  each  other,  they  never  entered  into  any  unseemly  personal  wrangle, 
and  each  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  his  way.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  sad 
accident  by  which  Mr.  Birkbeck  lost  his  life,  there  would  probably  have  been 
a  reconciliation  between  them.  It  was  understood  that  Mr.  Birkbeck's  visit 
to  New  Harmony,  at  that  time,  was  for  the  purpose  of  seeking  the  intervention 
of  his  friend,  Robert  Owen,  to  bring  about  a  renewal  of  their  friendly  inter- 
course. 


DROWNING   OF   MORRIS   BIRKBECK.  II 5 

than  mine.  The  wildest  reports,  mostly  ridiculous  and 
some  scandalous,  were  carried  from  one  to  the  other,  and 
were  so  often  repeated,  as  to  obtain  some  credence  with 
those  that  invented  and  circulated  them;  and  some  indi- 
viduals were  so  indiscreet  as  to  write,  to  their  distant 
friends,  these  fabulous  accounts.  This  brought  to  Mr. 
Birkbeck  letters,  asking  explanations  of  the  strange  things 
they  had  heard.  From  this  annoyance  he  could  scarcely 
free  himself  by  silence  or  reply.  It  has  been  said  that 
none  but  fools  intermeddle  with  other  people's  dissentions. 
If  judged  by  that  rule,  we  had  many  non  compics  in  our 
Settlement  at  tiiat  time. 

There  was  that  sense  of  justice  in  Mr.  Birkbeck  that 
prompted  him  to  repair  an  injury  inflicted  from  errone- 
ous impressions  or  heat  of  temper.  Seven  years  after  our 
short  meeting  and  parting,  Mr.  Birkbeck  went  to  Har- 
mony, and  solicited  Mr.  Robert  Owen  to  use  his  influence 
for  a  reconciliation  between  us;  but  from  that  journey 
he  never  returned.* 

I  must  anticipate  a  period  of  eight  years  to  close  the 
history  of  Mr.  Birkbeck's  family  with  myself  and  with 
the  Settlement.  Some  time  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Birk- 
beck, a  circumstance  occurred  which  brought  me  once 
more  into  personal   intercourse  with  the  members  of  his 


*  On  his  return  to  Wanborough  from  New  Harniony,  Ind.,  June  4,  1825, 
Morris  Birlvbeck  was  drowned  while  crossing  Fox  River.  His  body,  taken 
two  days  afterward  to  New  Harmony,  was  buried  with  every  mark  of  respect 
and  affection.  Thus  perished  Morris  Birkbeck,  one  of  the  ablest  and  most 
cultivated  men  of  his  time  in  Illinois,  whose  influence,  wielded  in  the  cause  of 
freedom  and  humanity,  should  always  be  gratefully  remembered. 


Il6     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

family,  then  living  in  Wanborough,*  his  two  daughters, 
Mrs.  Pell  and  Mrs.  Hanks,  neither  of  whom  I  had  seen 
since  our  parting  at  Princeton,  eight  years  before.  Mr. 
Francis  Hanks,  eldest  son  of  an  Irish  gentleman,  and  the 
only  member  of  that  family  now  remaining  in  Wanbor- 
ough, married  Miss  Prudence,  the  second  daughter  of  Mr. 
Birkbeck,  by  whom  he  had  three  daughters.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Hanks  had  for  some  time  lived  apart.  Mrs.  Hanks 
and  her  children  lived  with  her  sister,  Mrs.  Pell,  to  whom 
she  was  ardently  attached,  and  by  whom  she  was  much  be- 
loved. Mr.  Hanks  and  myself  had  always  been  on  friendly 
terms.  From  the  peculiar  position  of  my  own  and  his 
father-in-law's  family,  we  had  never  conversed  on  his 
family  affairs.  Mr.  Hanks  now  thought  it  his  duty  to 
take  his  children  under  his  own  care.  He  called  on  me 
to  ask  the  loan  of  my  carriage  to  bring  his  children  and 
their  little  effects  from  Mr.  Pell's  to  his  own  house.  This 
led  to  further  conversation  then,  and  to  more  the  next 
day.  I  questioned  the  wisdom  of  his  intention  in  taking 
his  daughters  from  the  custody  of  their  mother,  and  bring- 
ing them  to  a  house  without  a  housekeeper  or  female 
domestic,  and  in  a  country  where  a  governess  was  scarcely 
to  be  procured. 

He  listened  to  my  suggestions,  and,  at    his  request,   I 
went   to   see    Mrs.   Hanks  on  the  subject.      Mr.  Pell  met 

*  Wanborough  was  laid  out  as  a  town  by  Mr.  Birkbeck  in  five-acre  lots,  a 
mile  or  two  west  of  where  Albion  is  located,  and  there  he  had  his  own  residence. 
A  few  other  families  settled  there,  but  the  town  had  no  future.  Everything 
went  to  Albion,  and,  at  the  present  day,  Wanborough  has  no  existence,  even 
in  name. 


AN    EMBARRASSING   INTERVIEW.  11/ 

me  at  the  hall-door,  with  some  surprise,  for  I  had  never 
been  there  before.  I  briefly  explained  the  object  of  my 
visit.  He  invited  me  in,  and  opened  the  door  of  the 
parlor,  which  I  entered.  There  stood  my  two  former 
friends,  Eliza  and  Prudence,  pale  and  motionless.  Pru- 
dence soon  became  tremulous,  her  nervous  temperament 
scarcely  allowed  her  to  stand,  but  she  could  not  move. 
Her  sister,  with  slight  motion,  invited  me  to  a  seat,  which 
I  for  a  few  moments  could  not  take.  All  the  past  was 
passing  through  our  'minds,  we  were  scarcely  conscious  of 
existence.  I  asked  Mrs.  Hanks  if  she  would  like  to  retain 
her  children,  and  received  her  almost  inaudible  assent  and 
thanks.  Mr.  Pell  came  in,  to  our  relief;  we  all  made  an 
effort,  and  spoke  aloud,  as  if  to  dissipate  the  impression 
of  some  unhappy  dream  that  had  long  oppressed  us. 

Mr.  Pell  sat  down  to  table  to  draw  up  an  agreement,  all 
of  us  sitting,  participating  in  what  was  being  written.  I 
soon  returned  with  Mr.  Hanks'  signature.  Dinner  was  now 
ready.  I  was  pressed  to  stay.  I  sat  at  the  right-hand 
of  Mrs.  Pell,  Mrs.  Hanks  opposite,  Mr.  Pell  at  the  bot- 
tom, and  three  or  four  children  near  him.  Mrs.  Hanks 
never  completely  recovered  her  self-possession.  Mrs.  Pell, 
calm,  conversable,  and  cheerful.  The  conversation  became 
general.  Yet  it  was  evident  that  there  were  different 
parties  at  the  table*  feeling  a  different  existence,  and  living 
in  different  worlds.  Three  of  us  saw  all  the  happy  days 
of  the  past,  and  the  darker  hours  of  separation  and  regret 
to  which  the  husband  could  get  but  faint  glimpses.  The 
children  knew  no  other  world  than  they  were  enjoying, 
and  the  play  to  which  they  soon  returned.     At   leaving. 


Il8     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

Mr.  Pell  requested  a  moment's  stay  at  the  hall-door: 
"Mr.  Flower,  there  has  been  an  estrangement  between  our 
families,  may  we  hope  that  it  is  now  at  an  end,  and  that 
all  may  be  forgotten."  As  in  the  evening  of  a  dark  and 
dreary  day,  the  clouds  lighted  up  with  a  bright  streak  o^ 
sunlight  in  the  western  horizon,  showing  that  the  storms 
are  past,  giving  promise  of  a  fair  and  tranquil  morrow.  So 
one  gleam  of  sincere,  but  melancholy,  friendship  closed 
our  dark  day,  but  for  us  there  was  no  morrow.  Mrs. 
Hanks  soon  after  went  to  Mexico,  wfth  her  daughters,  to 
join  her  brothers,  who  had  gone  to  that  country  after  their 
father's  death.  Not  long  after  her  arrival  in  Mexico,  on 
an  evening  promenade,  she  was  attacked  with  the  cholera 
and  died.  Her  children,  adopted  by  her  bother  Bradford, 
have  been  kindly  cared  for.  A  little  later,  I  met  Mrs. 
Pell,  for  the  last  time,  at  a  friend's  house  in  Albion.  She 
was  going,  the  next  day,  to  New  York  with  her  children. 
At  parting,  she  came  forward,  extending  her  hand  with 
frankness,  and  with  her  own  sweet  smile,  gave  me  a  cor- 
dial farewell.  This  estimable  lady  was,  I  believe,  the  sole 
instructor,  as  well  as  care-taker,  of  her  children,  and  this 
she  was  from  the  circumstances  of  her  situation.  Mr.  Pell 
was  a  public  man,  twice  in  the  Legislature,  and  was  often 
for  long  periods  abroad.*  A  wife  of  ability  and  industry, 
everywhere  valuable,  is  in  western  America  a  treasure  of 
priceless   worth.       In    the    performance   of    her    maternal 

*  Gilbert  T.  Pell,  who  married  the  daughter  of  Mr.  BirkbecU,  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  "  Convention  Legislature, "  as  it  was  called,  from  Edwards  County, 
in  1822-4.  He  was  a  strong  anti-slavery  man,  and  voted  against  the  resolu- 
tion to  call  a  convention  to  change  the  Constitution  of  the  State  so  as  to  toler- 
ate slavery.     He  was  also  a  member  from  the  same  county  for  1828-30. 


DIGGING    THE   WELL.  II9 

duties,  and  in  every  sacrifice  for  the  welfare  of  her  chil- 
dren, Mrs.  Pell  found  refreshment  and  strength.  She  now 
took  them  the  journey  to  New  York  and  the  voyage  to 
England.  For  their  sake,  she  went  to  the  antipodes  of 
the  globe,  encountering  the  world  of  water  that  lies  be- 
tween England  and  Australia,  where  she  now  is  watch- 
ing the  peaceful  progress  of  her  children  to  wealth  and 
station,  as  rewards  for  the  virtues  impressed  upon  them 
by  her  care  and  love. 

I  should  willingly  have  avoided  these  personal  inci- 
dents, but  our  histories  are  so  interwoven  with  the  history 
of  the  Settlement  that  I  could  not  entirely  omit  them. 

On  my  return  from  the  short  interview  with  Mr.  Birk- 
beck,  I  saw  that  I  could  receive  no  benefit  or  aid  from 
any  previous  preparation,  and  had  only  myself  to  rely 
upon.  No  water  near,  a  well  was  of  the  first  necessity. 
Two  laborers,  one  English  and  one  American,  were  set 
at  work,  and  struck  a  solid  sandstone  rock  three  feet  from 
the  surface.  The  nearest  forge  was  where  the  town  of 
Carmi  now  stands,  thirty  miles  distant.  About  every 
other  day,  I  sent  to  Carmi  to  have  tools  sharpened.  Two 
sawyers  set  to  work  with  a  pit-saw,  broke  the  iron  han- 
dle of  the  saw.  I  sent  a  man  on  horseback  to  Harmony, 
twenty-five  miles,  to  get  it  mended.  He  left  the  saw, 
and  then  rode  off  with  horse,  saddle,  and  bridle.  I  never 
saw  him  more. 

My  old  friend  Birk  gave  me  a  call  to  say  ''hozvdye," 
bringing  a  haunch  of  venison,  for  which  I  paid  him  thirty- 
seven  and  a -half  cents,  about  eighteen  pence  sterling. 
Think  of  that,  ye  aldermen  of  London!     Our  money  was 


I20     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

not  decimally  divided  then.  It  was  the  Spanish  coin: 
dollar,  half,  quarter,  twelve-and-a-half  and  six-and-a-fourth 
cents,  all  in  separate  silver  coins,  no  copper  passing. 

"Birk,  I  want  a  smoke-house,  well  roofed,  scutched  in- 
side, and  well  chinked.  How  much.?"  "Ten  dollars," 
said  he.  "Find  yourself  ( that  is,  feed  yourself),  haul 
your  own  logs.  When.?"  "Tomorrow."  The  house  was 
built;  money  paid;  whisky  given;  man  rode  home;  drunk 
and  happy;  all  in  a  quiet  friendly  way.  So  the  Settle- 
ment was  planted  in  two  parts,  side  by  side,  about  two 
miles  distant  from  each  other. 

For  a  moment  let  us  glance  at  the  situation  of  these 
settlers,  a  thousand  miles  inland,  at  the  heels  of  the  retreat- 
ing Indians.  A  forest  from  the  Atlantic  shore  behind 
them,  but  thinly  settled  with  small  villages,  far  apart  from 
each  other.  To  the  west,  one  vast  uninhabited  wilder- 
ness of  prairie,  interspersed  with  timber,  extending  two 
thousand  miles  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Excepting  St.  Louis, 
on  the  Mississippi,  then  a  small  place,  and  Kaskaskia,  yet 
smaller,  there  were  no  inhabitants  west  of  us.  About  the 
same  time,  one  or  two  small  American  settlements  were 
forming  a  few  miles  east  of  the  Mississippi,  as  we  were 
planting  ourselves  a  few  miles  west  of  the  Wabash.  The 
first  member  of  Congress  had  to  ride  an  intervening 
space  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  wilderness  between 
the  little  settlements  of  his  constituents,  lying  in  the 
west  and  east  of  the  State.  There  were  no  roads  on 
land,  no  steam -boats  on  the  waters.  The  road,  so- 
called,  leading  to  Vandalia  (then  composed  of  about 
a  dozen  log- houses),  was   made    by  one  man   on  horse- 


A   HARD   ROAD    TO   TRAVEL.  121 

back    following    in    the    track     of    another,    every    rider 
making    the  way  a  little  easier    to   find,   until  you   came 
to    some    slush,  or    swampy    place,   where    all    trace    was 
lost,  and  you  got  through  as  others  had  done,  by  guess- 
ing   at    the   direction,   often    riding    at    hazard    for   miles 
until    you  stumbled   on   the  track  again.      And   of  these 
blind  traces  there  were  but  three  of  four  in  the  southern 
half  of  the  State.    No  roads  were  worked,  no  watercourses 
bridged.      Before   getting    to   Vandalia,   there   was  a   low 
piece  of  timbered  bottom-land,  wet  and  swampy,  and  often 
covered    with    water,   through    which    every    traveler    had 
to  make  his  way  as   he  best  could,  often   at   the  risk  of 
his  life.      Such  was   the  state  of  the  country.      No  man 
could  feel  sure  that  he  was  within  the  limits  of  the  State, 
but  from  knowing  that  he  was  west  of  the  Wabash  and 
east  of  the  Mississippi.     We  had  some  difficulties,  pecu- 
liar to  ourselves,  as   a   foreign   people.      The   Americans, 
by  pushing  onward  and  onward    for  almost  two  genera- 
tions, had  a  training    in    handling    the  axe  and    opening 
farms,  and,  from  experience,  bestowing  their  labor  in  the 
most  appropriate  manner,  which  we,  from   our   inexperi- 
ence, often  did  not.     Fresh  from  an  old  country,  teeming 
with  the  conveniences  of  civilized  life,  at  once  in  a  wilder- 
ness with  all  our  inexperience,  our  losses  were  large  from 
misplaced  labor.     Many  were  discouraged,  and  some  re- 
turned, but  the  mass  of  the  settlers  stayed,  and,  by  gradual 
experience,  corrected    their    first  errors,  thus   overcoming 
difficulties    which    had    wellnigh    overcome    them.       The 
future  success  of  the  Settlement  was  obtained  by  individ- 
ual  toil   and   industry.      Of  the  first    inconveniences  and 
sufferings,  my  family  had  its  full  share. 


122     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

The  summer  had  been  very  hot  and  latterly  wet.  Thun- 
der showers  of  daily  occurrence  sent  mosquitoes  in  swarms. 
My  cabin,  recently  built,  of  course,  of  green  logs,  unfur- 
nished, with  rank  vegetation  growing  all  around  it  and 
up  to  its  very  sides,  was  in  its  situation  and  in  itself  a 
sufficient  cause  of  disease.  My  shepherd  and  his  family 
came,  bringing  a  few  choice  sheep  and  an  English  high- 
bred cow.  His  whole  family,  in  a  few  days,  all  fell  sick, 
lying  in  a  small  cabin  just  built  about  a  hundred  yards 
from  my  own.  Mr.  White,  carpenter,  from  London,  wife, 
and  two  children,  occupied  a  two-horse  wagon  and  a  sol- 
dier's tent.  There  was  no  house  for  him ;  they  all  fell 
sick.  My  two  sons  were  speedily  taken  with  fever  and 
ague,  to  us  then  a  new  disease.  Miss  Fordham,  who 
shared  our  cabin,  was  attacked  with  the  same  disease. 
My  constitution,  strong  and  good,  yielding  from  exposure 
to  heat  and  rain,  took  another  form  of  disease.  Boils 
and  irritable  sores  broke  out  on  both  my  legs,  from  knee 
to  ankle,  incapacitating  me,  for  a  time,  from  walking. 
Thus  we  were  situated  for  two  or  three  weeks,  without 
the  slightest  assistance  from  any  source,  or  supplies  other 
than  from  my  own  wagons,  as  they  slowly  arrived  from 
Shawneetown,  giving  us  sufficient  bedding  with  flour  and 
bacon.  All  the  other  merchandise  and  furniture  did  but 
add  to  our  present  embarrassment,  in  attempts  to  protect 
them  from  the  weather,  and  in  endeavoring  to  dry  what 
was  wet. 

We  were  carried  through  this  period  of  trial  by  the 
unremitting  labor  and  self-sa'crifice  of  my  wife.*    She  alone 

*  Mrs.  Flower  was  a  woman  of  rare  intelligence  and  excellent  education,  to 


CHARACTER   OF    MRS.   FLOWER.  1 23 

prepared  all  our  food  and  bedding,  and  attended  to  the 
wants  of  the  sick  and  the  suffering  by  night  and  day. 
To  all  this  was  added  a  fatigue  that  a  strong  man  might- 
have  shrunk  from,  in  bringing  water  from  that  distant 
well.  Sustained  in  her  unremitting  labors  by  unbounded 
devotion  to  her  family,  and  a  high  sense  of  duty  to  all 
within  her  reach,  her  spirit  and  her  power  seemed  to  rise 
above  the  manifold  trials  by  which  she  was  surrounded. 
And  thus  we  were  saved  from  probable  death  or  certain 
dispersion.  The  incessant  labor  of  the  mother  told  on 
the  infant  at  the  breast;  it  sickened  and  died.  With 
returning  health  we  worked  our  way  unaided  through  our 
difficulties. 

To  our  former  friends  and  those  that  sustained  them 
in  withholding  the  slightest  assistance  in  our  hour  of  trial, 
is  it  strange  that  we  should  accept  the  separation,  and 
feel  in  our  hearts  that  it  must  be  forever.^  We,  for  some 
time,  experienced  the  inconveniences  of  population  in  ad- 
vance of  necessary  food  and  shelter. 

which  she  united  an  energetic  character  and  a  courageous  spirit.  An  affec- 
tionate wife,  a  devoted  mother,  a  kind  friend,  and  a  good  neighbor,  she  proved 
herself  in  all  the  relations  of  life  a  true  and  noble  woman.  When  misfortune 
and  poverty  came  to  her  family  in  the  later  years,  she  met  the  changed  circum- 
stances with  a  cheerful  spirit  and  unsubdued  courage.  She  was  of  the  best 
type  of  an  English  countrywoman,  and  preserved,  to  the  end  of  her  days,  the 
characteristics  of  her  nationality.  The  sad  day  arriving  when,  in  pursuit  of 
occupation  to  support  his  family,  Mr.  Flower  was  obliged  to  leave  the  Colony 
he  had  helped  to  found,  and  with  which  he  had  been  so  conspicuously  identi- 
fied for  so  many  years,  he  removed  to  Mt.  Vernon,  Ind.,  on  the  Ohio  River, 
to  take  charge  of  an  hotel.  Advanced  years  and  impaired  health  made  it  im- 
possible for  Mr.  Flower  to  give  much  attention  to  the  business,  and  the  brunt 
fell  upon  his  wife.  With  her  high  shell-comb  and  her  tasteful  turban,  no 
weary  guest  will  ever  forget  her  cheery  welcome,  or  the  satisfactoi-y  and  kindly 
manner  in  which  he  was  entertained. 


124     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

The  buildings  necessary  to  secure  our  horses  and  our 
goods,  now  daily  arriving,  were  built  by  the  backwoods- 
men of  whom  I  have  before  spoken,  among  them  was  my 
old  friend  Birk.  These  men  worked  well  in  the  morninsr. 
slackened  toward  noon,  as  the  drams  of  whisky  (which 
they  would  not  work  without)  told  upon  them,  and  in- 
dulged in  imprecations,  brawls,  and  rough-and-tumble 
fights,  toward  evening. 

Emigrants  were  continually  flowing  in.  They  first 
visited  Mr.  Birkbeck,  who  had  but  small  accommodations; 
then  came  to  me,  who,  at  that  time,  had  still  less.  At 
this  stage,  we  were  experiencing  many  of  the  inconveni- 
ences of  a  population  in  the  wilderness,  in  advance  of 
necessary  food  and  shelter.  Do  as  you  will,  if  you  are 
the  very  first  in  the  wilderness,  there  are  many  inconveni- 
ences, privations,  hardships,  and  sufferings  that  can  not  be 
avoided.  My  own  family,  one  day,  were  so  close  run  for 
provisions,  that  a  dish  of  the  tenderest  buds  and  shoots 
of  the  hazle  was  our  only  resort. 

Mr.  Lawrence  and  Mr.  Trimmer,  who  led  the  first  ship- 
load, made  their  settlement  in  the  Village  Prairie,  a  beau- 
tiful and  extensive  prairie,  so-called  from  the  Piankeshaw 
Indians,  there  formerly  located.  It  was  situated  due  north 
of  my  cabin  in  the  Boltenhouse  Prairie,  about  three  miles, 
the  intervening  space  covered  by  timber  and  underbrush, 
untouched  by  the  hand  of  man.  Emigrants  kept  coming 
in,  some  on  foot,  some  on  horseback,  and  some  in  wagons. 
Some  sought  employment,  and  took  up  with  such  labor 
as  they  could  find.  Others  struck  out  and  made  small 
beginnings  for  themselves.     Some,  with  feelings  of  petu- 


A- NIGHT   DISCUSSION.  125 

lence,  went  farther  and  fared  worse;  others  dropped  back 
into  the  towns  and  settlements  in  Indiana.  At  first,  I 
had  as  much  as  I  could  do  to  build  a  few  cabins  for  the 
workmen  I  then  employed,  and  in  erecting  a  large  farm- 
yard, a  hundred  feet  square,  enclosed  by  log-buildings, 
two  stories  high;  also  in  building  fo'r  my  father's  family 
a  house  of  considerable  size,  and  appointed  with  some- 
what more  of  comforts  than  is  generally  found  in  new 
settlements,  to  be  ready  for  their  reception  on  the  follow- 
ing summer.  I  had  as  yet  done  nothing  in  erecting  build- 
ings for  the  public  in  general,  as  there  had  been  no  time. 
One  evening,  Mr.  Lawrence,  Mr.  Ronalds,  and  I  think, 
Mr.  Fordham,  called  at  my  cabin,  and,  after  their  horses 
were  cared  for  and  supper  over,  we  discussed  the  meas- 
ures that  should  be  taken  to  form  some  village  or  town, 
as  a  centre  for  those  useful  arts  necessary  to  agriculture. 
Every  person  wanted  the  services  of  a  carpenter  and 
blacksmith.  But  every  farmer  could  not  build  workshops 
at  his  own  door.  Daylight  ceased,  darkness  followed. 
We  had  no  candles,  nor  any  means  of  making  artificial 
light.  On  a  pallet,  mattress,  or  blanket,  each  one  took 
to  his  couch,  and  carried  on  the  discussion.  After  much 
talk,  we  decided  that  what  we  did  do  should  be  done 
in  order,  and  with  a  view  to  the  future  settlement,  as 
well  as  our  own  present  convenience.  The  tract  of  forest 
lying  between, Mr.  Lawrence's  settlement  in  the  Village 
Prairie,  on  its  southern  border,  and  mine  at  the  north  of 
the  Boltenhouse  Prairie,  was  about  three-and-a-half  miles 
through.  Somewhere  in  the  centre  of.  this  tract  of  wood- 
land seemed  to  be  the  place.     To  the  right  of  this  spot, 


126     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

eastward,  lay,  about  a  mile  distant,  several  prairies  run- 
ning north  and  south  for  many  miles,  and  others  east  and 
west  to  the  Bonpas  Creek,  from  three  to  five  miles  dis- 
tant. North-eastward  from  Mr.  Lawrence's  cabin,  prairies 
of  every  form  and  size  continued  on  indefinitely.  About 
two  miles  west,  and  beyond  Wanborough,  were  numerous 
small  and  fertile  prairies,  extending  to  the  Little  Wabash, 
from  six  to  ten  miles  distant.  On  the  south  was  my 
own  beautiful  prairie.  Thus  the  spot  for  our  town  in  a 
central  situation  was  decided  upon.  Now  for  a  name. 
We  were  long  at  fault.  At  last  we  did  what  almost  all 
emigrants  do,  pitched  on  a  name  that  had  its  association 
with  the  land  of  our  birth.  Albion  was  then  and  there 
located,  built,  and  peopled  in  imagination.  We  dropped 
off,  one  by  one,  to  sleep,  to  confirm  in  dreams  the  wan- 
derings of  our  waking  fancies. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Albion  Founded — Town  Surveyed  and  Laid  Off    First  Double  Cabin 

Benjamin  Grutt — Albion  a  fixed   Fact — The   Log -Cabin   and 

Blacksmith-Shop— Rowdyism — Wan  borough  springs  into  Exis- 
tence in  1818— Efforts  to  obtain  Water— Visit  to  Lexington,  Ky. 

Death  of  William  Flower— Building  in  Albion— Old  Park-House 

The  Sunday  Dinner — Brick-Kilns— Market-House- New  Roads 

—Brick-Tavern,  built  by  Richard  Flower— Kept  by  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Lewis— The  Mill— The  first  Store-keepers  in  Albion— Other  early 
Settlers  — Albion  made  the  County-Seat  — Erection  of  a  Court- 
House  and  Jail— Pardon  of  Perry  by  Gov.  Coles  — Disappoint- 
ment of  the  People  in  not  seeing  him  Hung — Consoling  them- 
selves with  Whisky  and  a  score  of  Fights— Thirty-nine  Lashes 
for  a  Poor  Frenchman — Hon.  William  W^ilson. 

One  day  was  only  suffered  to  elapse  between  our 
decision  and  the  execution  of  our  purpose.  Before  dis- 
persing the  next  morning,  it  was  agreed  that  Mr.  Ford- 
ham  and  myself  should  start  north  from  my  dwelling. 
Mr.  Lawrence  and  Mr.  Ronalds  were  to  go  south  from 
the  Village  Prairie  at  a  given  hour  on  the  following  morn- 
ing. We  met  the  next  day  in  the  woods,  according  to 
appointment.  The  spot  seemed  suitable.  The  woods 
were  rather  open,  and  the  ground  level.  "  Here  shall  be 
the' centre  of  our  town,"  we  said.  The  spot  of  our  meet- 
ing is  now  the  public  square  in  the  centre  of  Albion,  on 
which  the  school-house,  the  court-house,  and  the  jail  now 
stand.  The  surveying  and  laying  of  the  town  was  en- 
trusted to  Mr.  Fordham,  who  forthwith  went  to  work,  and 


128     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTV. 

completed  the  survey  and  the  plat.  One  of  our  number 
went  to  Shawneetown,  and  entered  the  section  of  six 
hundred  and  forty  acres,  which  was  all  laid  off  in  town 
lots.  The  public-square  was  in  the  middle.  The  blocks 
immediately  around,  and  in  the  main  street,  were  divided 
into  quarter-acre  lots.  The  blocks  outside  were  divided 
into  half-acres.  As  the  distance  increased  from  the  cen- 
tre, the  lots  increased  in  size,  until  the  outer  belt  of  allot- 
ments were  five  and  seven  acres. 

The  first  double-cabin  built,  was  designated  for  a  tavern, 
and  a  single  one  for  its  stable.  This  was  occupied  by 
Mr.  John  Pitcher,  who,  with  his  family,  came  out  with 
Mr.  Lawrence.  He  was  an  excellent  mechanic,  and  a  man 
of  more  than  ordinary  intelligence.  Unsuccessful  in 
England,  he  came  to  the  Settlement  almost  without  a 
dollar.  About  two  years  afterward,  he  went  to  Vincennes 
(leaving  his  family  at  Albion),  and  undertook  contracting 
for  building  on  a  large  scale.  He  was  pursuing  his  business 
successfully,  when  he  was  suddenly  cut  off  by  a  virulent 
epidemic,  much  resembling  the  yellow  fever.  He  was 
visited  in  his  last  moments  by  Mr.  Benjamin  Grutt,  who 
was  then  at  Vincennes  and  accidentally  heard  of  his  ill- 
ness. Too  weak  to  articulate,  with  a  significant  pressure 
of  the  hand  and  a  kindly  smile,  he  took  leave  of  his 
visitor,  indicating  that  the  little  differences  which  had 
arisen  between  them  had  all  passed  away,  and  were  then 
forgiven.  This  reminiscence,  Mr.  Grutt  always  spoke  of 
as  one  of  the  most  pleasing  incidents  of  his  life.  His 
son  Henry,  then  a  boy,  is  now,  I  am  happy  to  record, 
a  gentleman  of  large  property,  now  residing  at  St.  Louis, 


ALBION   BEGUN.  1 29 

acquired,  I  believe,  in  the  city  by  his  own  industry  and 
inteUigence.  Such  opportunities  does  this  country  afford 
for  those  who  have  the  ability  or  good  fortune  to  lay  hold 
of  them. 

Another  and  second  double  and  single  cabin  were  occu- 
pied as  dwelling  and  shop  by  a  blacksmith.  I  had  brought 
bellows,  anvils,  tools,  and  appliances  for  three  or  four  black- 
smith -  shops,  from  the  City  of  Birmingham,  England. — 
There  were  three  brothers  that  came  with  Mr.  Charles 
Trimmer,  all  excellent  mechanics,  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob  Penfold.  Jacob,  the  blacksmith,  was  immediately 
installed,  and  went  to  work.  There  stood  Albion,  no 
longer  a  myth,  but  a  reality,  a  fixed  fact.  A  log-tavern 
and  a  blacksmith -shop. 

Two  germs  of  civilization  were  now  planted — one  of  the 
useful  arts,  the  other  a  necessary  institution  of  present 
civilization.  Any  man  could  now  get  his  horse  shod  and 
get  drunk  in  Albion,  privileges  which  were  soon  enjoyed, 
the  latter  especially. 

The  town -proprietors,  at  first  four,  afterward  increased 
to  eight  (each  share  five  hundred  dollars),  went  to  work 
vigorously.  They  put  up  cabin  after  cabin,  which  were 
occupied  as  soon  as  put  up,  by  emigrants  coming  in. 
The  builders  of  these  were  the  backwoodsmen,  some 
from  twenty  to  thirty  miles  distant.  Attracted  by  our 
good  money  and  good  whisky,  these  men  gathered  in. 
The  work  was  generally  done  by  contract  or  piece-work 
— the  price  twenty-five  to  thirty  dollars  for  single  cabins, 
16  by  18;  from  forty  to  fifty  for  double  cabins.  The 
builders  generally  worked  hard  by  day.     In  the  evening, 

9 


I30     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

they  gathered  around  the  whisky-barrel,  as  "bees  around 
a  favorite  flower.  As  the  evening  advanced,  in  succession 
were  heard  the  sounds  of  mirth  and  jolHty,  threats,  loud 
oaths,  and  imprecations.  Rough-and-tumble  fights  suc- 
ceeded, and  silence  was  only  restored  by  the  exhaustion 
of  the  mutilated  combatants.  The  birth  of  our  infant 
town  was  heralded  by  all  the  scenes  of  riot  and  debauch 
incident  to  such  occasions. 

In  August,  1818,  the  village  of  Wanborough  sprang  into 
existence  for  the  accommodation  of  the  first-ship's  party, 
on  Mr.  Birkbeck's  property,  and  under  his  immediate  direc- 
tion. In  October,  of  the  same  year,  Albion  was  founded 
under  my  more  immediate  superintendence.  It  has  main- 
tained a  slow,  progressive,  solid  growth  from  that  time  to 
this,  now  more  than  forty  years. 

The  first  efforts  of  the  town-proprietors  to  obtain  water 
were  signally  unsuccessful.  The  first  well  dug  was  in  the 
public -square,  and  more  than  a  hundred  feet  deep,  and 
no  water.  The  next  a  considerable  depth,  and  but  a 
limited  supply.  We  knew  not  exactly  where  to  dig  to 
find  water.  The  elevation  of  the  town  (being  on  the 
dividing  ridge,  between  the  Great  and  Little  Wabash), 
giving  greater  salubrity,  was  accompanied  by  the  incon- 
venience of  deep -digging  for  water.  When  ignorance  is 
complete,  we  are  apt  to  take  up  with  any  superstition. 
I  have  often  smiled  at  our  resignation  in  following  an 
old  well-digger,  who  claimed  to  be  a  water-witch,  with  a 
forked  hazel-rod  in  hand,  here  and  there,  up  and  down, 
through  the  bushes,  with  solemn  tread  and  mysterious  air. 
The  rod  is  to  bend  down  of  its  own  accord  over  the  spot 


DEATH   OF   WILLIAM   FLOWER.  131 

where  water  is  to  be  found.  After  following  the  witch 
for  a  proper  time,  the  rod  bent  down.  We  told  him  to 
go  to  work.  The  result  was  water  at  a  depth  of  forty- 
five  feet,  not  so  deep  and  copious,  but  affording  a  moder- 
ate supply.  This  difficulty  about  water  was  all  obviated 
afterward,  when  the  property  was  divided.  Tanks  and 
wells  then  became  common  as  houses.  But  the  want  of 
water  in  the  first  instance  was  no  light  difficulty.  Popu- 
lation streaming  in  before  adequate  preparations,  add,  to 
all  the  other  inconveniences,  the  want  of  water,  and  it  is 
almost  fatal.  When  there  were  only  two  wells,  I  have 
known  people  to  stand  for  two  hours  in  the  night  to 
take  their  turn  to  dip  their  bucket  full.  Hence  the  efforts 
of  the  town-proprietors  to  get  an  early  supply. 

During  the  winter,  I  rode  on  horseback  to  Lexington, 
Ky.,  to  visit  my  father's  family.  On  the  road,  I  was 
shocked  to  hear  of  the  sudden  death  of  my  brother  Wil- 
liam. He  came  with  me  and  assisted  me  in  the  roughest 
part  of  our  time.  Feeling  unwell,  he  decided  to  go  to 
Lexington,  and  spent  the  winter  with  his  father,  mother, 
sisters,  and  younger  brother.  He  was  accompanied  and 
kindly  attended  on  the  journey  by  Mr.  John  Ingle.  He 
sometimes  seemed  to  recover,  and  at  others  to  get  worse. 
Suddenly  one  morning,  as  he  sat  up  in  bed,  his  mother 
in  the  room  arranging  the  clothes  for  him  to  put  on,  he 
sunk  back  on  the  pillow  and  instantly  expired.  L  do  n't 
think  the  physicians  knew  precisely  his  case.  They 
thought  it  heart-disease.  This  was  a  melancholy  affair 
for  us  all,  and  a  severe  affliction  to  my  aged  parents. 

I  was  busily  engaged,  during  the  winter  and  spring,  in 


132     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

building  a  comfortable  dwelling  for  my  father,  not  far 
from  my  own  cabins.  The  body  of  the  house,  50  by  40 
feet,  covered  by  a  hipped -roof,  consisted  of  four  rooms 
in  the  lower  and  the  upper  story,  divided  by  a  hall-pas- 
sage from  north  to  south.  The  south  front  was  protected 
by  a  broad,  well-floored  porch,  that  extended  the  length 
of  the  house.  Every  room  was  plastered  or  papered,  and 
furnished  with  a  good  brick-chimney  and  stone-hearth. 
The  north  front  was  stuccoed,  to  resemble  stone;  the 
south,  weather- boarded  and  painted  white.  The  house 
was  well  furnished.  Its  good  proportion,  large  windows, 
and  Venetian  blinds  gave  it  an  appearance  of  the  old 
country  rather  than  the  new.  It  had  two  wings,  one  of 
hewn  stone,  the  other  of  brick,  used  as  kitchen  and  offices. 
A  well,  a  cellar,  stables,  cow-house,  and  every  other  con- 
venience of  that  sort  was  appended.  A  handsome  gar- 
den to  the  south  was  fenced  in  by  an  English  hawthorn 
hedge.  Thirty  acres  of  the  northern  woodland  was  pre- 
served, the  underbrush  cleared  and  sowed  with  blue  grass, 
it  had  the  appearance  of  a  park.  Hence  its  name — Park 
House. 

Old  Park-House,  near  Albion,  will  long  be  remembered 
by  old  settlers  and  distant  visitors,  for  its  social  reunions 
and  open-handed  hospitalities.  Here  the  family  party  of 
children  and  grandchildren  met  at  dinner  on  a  Sunday. 
An  English  plum-pudding  was  a  standing  dish,  that  had 
graced  my  father's  dinner-table  from  time  immemorial. 
Here  all  friends  and  neighbors,  that  had  any  musical 
tastes  or  talent,  whether  vocal  or  instrumental,  met  once 
a  fortnight  for  practice  and  social  enjoyment.     Strangers 


PARK   HOUSE — BRICK   KILNS — ROADS.  1 33 

and  visitors  to  the  Settlement  received  a  hearty  welcome, 
saw  all  that  was  to  be  seen,  and  received  all  the  infor- 
mation they  wished  for,  with  necessary  refreshment  and 
repose.  It  may  be  truly  said  that,  for  thirty  years,  old 
Park  House  was  never  without  its  visitors,  from  every 
country  in  Europe,  and  every  State  in  the  Union.  They 
were  welcome,  unless  the  family  was  absent,  if  their  stay 
was  for  a  week,  a  month,  or  a  year. 

One  of  the  first  things  the  town -proprietors  did,  after 
digging  the  wells,  was  to  contract  for  a  large  kiln  of 
brick,  for  chimneys  and  hearths,  to  supply  the  various 
cabins  now  built  and  being  built.  Nothing  gives  more 
real  and  apparent  comfort,  than  a  good  chimney  and  a 
tidy  hearth.  They  next  built  a  market-house,  about 
seventy- five  feet  long,  standing  on  a  stone  foundation, 
and  covered  by  a  shingle -roof  One  division  was  fitted 
up  for  the  reception  of  books,  that  were  given  by  indi- 
viduals in  England,  as  a  nucleus  for  a  public- library,  and 
was  used  for  public-meetings  and  public-worship.  When 
Albion  became  the  county -town,  the  first  courts  w^ere 
held  therein.  They  cut  roads  east,  west,  north,  and  south, 
and  built  a  bridge  over  Bonpas  Creek,  that  cost  them  five 
hundred  dollars.  Their  last  act  of  any  notoriety,  -was  the 
building  of  the  new  court-house-and-jail,  which  was  done 
chiefly  from  their  own  subscription,  with  a  portion  from 
the  County.  The  proprietors,  if  they  had  done  no  more, 
would  have  done  uniformly  well,  which  is  a  little  too  much 
to  be  expected  of  human  nature.  They  had  some  violent 
disputes  and  law  proceedings,  which  retarded  business 
and  was  for  a  time  injurious  to  the  growth  of  the  town. 


134     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

They  dissolved  partnership,  and  divided  the  unsold  prop- 
erty, and  of  course  all  disputes  arising  out  of  the  associa- 
tion were  ended.  My  father  took  a  lively  interest  in  the 
growth  of  the  town,  and  erected  several  buildings  in  which 
to  carry  on  trades  necessary  to  the  existence  of  the  town 
and  the  wants  of  the  Settlement. 

The  year  after  his  arrival,  he  built  a  good  two -story 
brick-tavern.  It  was  a  remarkably  dry  fall;  and  the  wells 
of  the  town  were  not  more  than  sufficient  to  supply  the 
inhabitants.  But  my  father  was  not  a  man  easily  turned 
from  his  intentions.  He  ordered  a  barrel  put  on  a  sled, 
drawn  by  a  pair  of  oxen  or  one  horse,  and  all  the  water, 
necessary  to  the  building  of  that  tavern  was  hauled  nearly 
two  miles  in  that  tedious  way.  On  the  interruption  of 
the  usual  teams,  rather  than  hinder  the  workmen,  he  had 
a  fine  blooded-mare  hitched  to  the  sleigh;  from  the  care- 
lessness of  the  driver,  she  ran  away  and  had  her  thigh 
broken  by  the  rebound  of  the  sleigh. 

Mr.  John  Pitcher  was  the  builder  of  the  tavern.  The 
first  occupants  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lewis.  The  second, 
Mr.  Woods — not  of  the  family  of  Wood  before  mentioned, 
but  another  family  from  Surrey,  with  another  letter  to 
their  name.  Mr.  John  Woods,  the  son,  has  a' store  in 
Albion,  and  has  long  held  the  office  of  county-treasurer. 
The  next  building  for  the  benefit  of  the  public  was  a  m^ll. 
It  was  built  as  a  tread-mill,  worked  by  four  oxen,  relieved 
by  other  four,  and*  so  kept  constantly  going.  It  soon 
became  crowded  with  grists  of  the  backwoodsmen  and 
farmers.  Besides  this,  wheat  was  bought  and  flour  made 
for  sale.     I  recollect  purchasing  the  first  wheat  ground  in 


THE   FIRST   WHEAT   GROUND.  1 35 

this  mill.  I  had  to  go  for  it  nearly  seventy  miles,  to  the 
prairies  adjoining  the  Wabash,  above  Vincennes.  It  was 
delivered  at  Mount  Carmel  at  fifty  cents  a  bushel,  from 
thence  brought  in  our  own  wagons  over  execrable  roads 
to  Albion,  nineteen  miles.  It  was  an  excellent  sample  of 
white  wheat.  The  history  of  its  growth  was  singular. 
The  farmer,  three  years  before,  had  sown  his  first  crop  of 
wheat.  At  harvest,  being  short-handed,  much  of  the  over- 
ripe wheat  had  shattered  on  the  ground.  When  he  brought 
his  plow  to  turn  over  the  soil,  the  volunteer  wheat  looked 
so  vigorous  that  he  let  it  stand.  He  again  harvested,  and 
again  he  left  the  volunteer  wheat  stand  ;  and  this,  the 
third  harvest,  grown  in  the  same  way,  I  bought ;  and  a 
better  sample  I  never  saw — two  of  the  crops  ripened  with- 
out any  preparation  of  the  soil. 

Two  other  houses  of  hewn -stone  my  father  built,  and 
he  accomplished  many  other  improvements  in  and  about 
town.  , 

Of  the  trades  first  in  order  come  the  stores.  Mr.  Elias 
Pym  Fordham,  who  had  taken  my  little  store,  sold  out  to 
Mr.  Olver,  a  merchant  from  Plymouth,  England.  In  after 
years,  Mr.  Olver  removed  to  the  neighborhood  of  Pitts- 
burgh, and  opened  the  Edge  worth  Institute,  a  seminary 
for  young  ladies,  but  he  left  behind  him  a  capacious  stone- 
house  of  his  own  building. 

Mr.  Joel  Churchill,  an  intelligent  and  educated  gentle- 
man, from  London,  after  trying  farming  in  its  roughest 
form  in  the  woods,  some  five  miles  south  of  Albion  (first 
in  a  log-house),  soon  built  a  store  of  brick,  and  a  stone 
dwelling-house  behind  it.     His  business,  by  his  good  man- 


136     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

agement  and  application,  in  a  few  years,  was  much  en- 
larcfed.  To  this  he  added  the  manufacture  of  castor-oiL 
These  businesses,  on  a  larger  scale,  are  now  carried  on  by 
Mr.  Churchill  and  his  two  sons,  Mr.  Charles  and  Mr.  James 
Churchill,  both  married  men.  Mr.  Gibson  Harris,  at  first 
the  conductor  of  a  small  store  for  Mr.  Francis  Dickson  of 
Vincennes,  soon  became  its  proprietor.  After  years  of 
close  attention  to  business,  he  built  himself  a  good  brick- 
store  and  dwelling-house.  The  house  is  now  occupied  by 
his  widow,  and  the  store  carried   on  by  one  of  his  sons. 

Nearly  forty  years  ago,  a  young  Scotchman  in  his  teens 
rode  up  to  my  house  and  wished  me  to  purchase  his  horse, 
.saddle,  and  bridle,  which  I  did  for  sixty  dollars — a  good 
price  in  those  days.  I  built  him  a  forge,  which  he  rented 
at  first  and  afterward  purchased.  With  the  proceeds  of 
the  horse  he  purchased  iron  and  went  to  work.  This  was 
the  beginning  of  Mr.  Alexander  Stewart,  who,  after  some 
years  of  Jabor  and  industry,  added  to  his  blacksmith- 
shop  a  store;  business  and  capital  increasing,  he  soon  weht 
largely  into  the  produce  of  the  country,  of  which  pork,, 
corn,  and  wheat  are  the  staples.  He  is  also  a  principal 
proprietor  of  a  large  flouring-mill,  at  Grayville. 

Mr.  Moses  Smith,  from  a  very  small  beginning,  first 
purchasing  a  few  articles  from  the  Harmonites  and  retail- 
ing them  in  Albion,  soon  increased  his  store;  then  added 
the  produce  business.  On  his  son,  Mr.  John  Smith,  the 
business  devolved  after  the  death  of  his  father,  which 
occurred  about  three  years  ago.  These  may  be  called 
the  original  stores,  two  of  them  from  very  small  beginnings,, 
in  the  earliest  years  of  the  town.     Mr.  Harris  and   Mr, 


BUSINESS   MEN    OF   ALBION.  137 

Smith  being  dead,  and  Mr.  Churchill  partially  retired-from 
the  toils  of  business,  it  may  be  said  of  all  three,  that  their 
sons  reign  in  their  stead. 

A  store,  owned  by  an  association  of  farmers,  was  carried 
on  successfully  by  Mr.  Henry  Harwick  for  several  years, 
Mr.  George  Ferryman,  from  the  Island  of  Jamaica,  came 
to  us  at  the  period  of  emancipation,  thinking  the  island 
would  be  ruined  ;  but  he  has  since  told  me  that  the  trade 
he  left  has  largely  increased.  What  is  a  little  singular, 
Mr.  Ferryman  has  twice  removed  from  Albion  with  all  his 
family.  There  must  be  some  strong  national  sympathy  at 
work  to  bring  our  migrating  settlers  back.  Captain  Carter, 
one  of  our  earliest  settlers,  and  more  recently  Mr.  Hen- 
shaw,  both  went  back  to  London,  and  both  returned  to 
Albion. 

Englishmen  returning  to  their  native  country,  after 
many  years'  residence  abroad,  think  the  old  country  has 
changed  since  they  left  it;  but  fail  to  see  the  change  in 
themselves,  worked  by  time,  climate,  and  national  associa- 
tions of  an  entirely  different  character.  Orie  of  our  most 
respectable,  an  early,  though  not  of  the  earliest,  settlers,  is 
Mr.  Elias  Weafver,  one  of  Rapp's  people,  a  German,  left 
the  Harmonites,  quite  a  young  man  at  time  of  their  re- 
moval, and  came  to  Albion.  Understanding  the  pottery 
business,  my  father  built  him  a  kiln,  at  which  he  worked 
some  time;  but  he  afterward  changed  to  a  business  more 
to  his  liking,  of  which  he  also  had  some  knowledge — a 
builder.  He  married,  built  himself  a  good  house,  and  has 
assisted  in  the  building  of  many  others.  He  is  now  liv- 
ing, carrying  on  his  business,  a  prosperous  man. 


138     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

In  1822,  the  county-seat  of  Edwards  County  was  re- 
moved from  Palmyra,  a  very  insignificant  place  on  the 
Great  Wabash,  at  the  head  of  the  grand  rapids.  As 
usual,  on  such  occasions,  every  place  of  any  pretensions 
was  a  rival  for  the  honor.  Between  Mt.  Carmel  and 
Albion  (both  young  towns,  Mt.  Carmel  two  or  three 
years  our  senior)  was  the  competition.  Albion  was  more 
central,  had  a  better  reputation  for  health,  and  the  pro- 
prietors made  liberal  offers  toward  erecting  the  county- 
buildings.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  commissioners  fixed 
the  county-seat  at  Albion.  This  did  not  quite  suit  our 
neighbors  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  county;  and  the 
County  of  Wabash  was  made  from  the  east  part  of 
Edwards — Mt.  Carmel  the  county-seat.  In  after  years, 
the  court-house,  erected  on  the  public-square  at  Albion, 
was  followed  by  the  erection  of  a  good  brick-building,  for 
a  public-school,  sustained  by  private  contributions.  The 
large  jail,  recently  built,  is  the  third  conspicuous  building 
standing  on  the  public-square. 

About  this  time,  one  of  those  accidents,  as  they  are 
termed,  occurred  in  Albion,  not  uncommon  in  young 
towns  then,  and  much  more  common  in  old  towns  now. 
A  man  named  Clark,  in  a  grog-shop,  stabbed  a  man 
named  Hobson.  A  fellow  named  Perry,  as  accessory 
after  the  fact,  was  found  guilty  and  condemned,  and,  by 
Gov.  Coles,  almost  immediately  after,  pardoned.  Two 
murderers  let  loose  on  society,  with  the  tacit  consent  of 
the  chief- executive  officer  of  the  State,  called  down  deep 
censure  upon  Gov.  Coles  for  his  misplaced  leniency.  It 
is   due,   however,   to  the  governor   that   the  extenuating 


THE   PARDON   OF   PERRY.  1 39 

circumstances    which    led    to   this    clemency    should    be 
stated. 

During  Perry's  imprisonment,  whilst  under  sentence  of 
death,  there  lived  near  to  Albion  a  young  fellow  of  vagrant 
habits,  who  spent  most  of  his  time  about  grog-shops,  and 
getting  into  fights.  His  youth  and  strength  made  him 
the  bully  of  the  place.  The  condemned  Perry  was  the 
owner  of  a  good  rifle.  All  the  backwoodsmen  knew  the 
qualities  of  their  neighbors'  rifles.  From  the  frequent 
shooting- matches  with  each  other,  the  range,  power,  and 
accuracy  of  all  the  rifles  roundabout  were  known.  Perry's 
rifle  had  a  good  reputation,  and  was  coveted  by  the  young 
vagabond.  Jack  Ellis.  Jack,  conferring  with  the  prisoner, 
agreed  to  get  up  a  petition,  take  it  to  Vandalia,  and  en- 
deavor to  procure  a  pardon  from  the  governor.  If  he 
succeeded,  Perry  was  to  give  him  his  rifle.  Jack  set  about 
the  business  with  considerable  tact.  He  took  a  sheet  of 
paper,  with  a  proper  heading,  and  secretly  and  silently 
sped  away  to  Vandalia,  a  dreary  ride  of  seventy-five  miles, 
the  weather  bad  and  waters  out.  When  at  Vandalia,  he 
was  in  no  hurry  to  present  himself  to  the  governor,  but,  as 
usual  with  men  of  his  stamp,  first  went  to  the  grog-shop. 
He  soon  told  his  story  to  the  loafers  hanging  about  the 
place,  and,  in  exchange  for  his  drams,  they  gave  plenty  of 
signatures  to  his  petition.  The  governor  signed,  little 
thinking  that  the  majority  of  the  signatures  were  procured 
at  some  doggery,  within  fifty  steps  of  his  own  lodgings. 
Jack,  returning  with  the  pardon,  had  fairly  earned  his  rifle. 

In  his  interview  with  Perry,  after  his  return,  a  curious 
scene  took  place.     Perry,  brought  from  a  neighboring  jail, 


140     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

was  chained  to  a  beam  in  a  house,  where  Jack  announced 
the  success  of  his  mission,  and  demanded  his  rifle.  This, 
Perry  flatly  refused.  He  expostulated  on  the  unreasona- 
bleness of  the  demand.  What  was  he  to  do  without  his 
rifle.''  Might  as  well  take  his  life  as  his  rifle!  How  was 
he  to  live.''  It  was  unreasonable,  inhuman,  and  much 
more  to  that  effect.  "Very  well,"  says  Jack,  "no  rifle,  no 
pardon,  here  goes  the  pardon  into  the  fire;"  it  went,  but 
not  into  the  flames,  but  onto  the  ashes  close  by.  Perry, 
in  his  terror,  gave  up  the  rifle,  adding  to  it  all  his  other 
earthly  possessions,  an  ax  and  a  cow,  and  his  old  woman 
too,  a  faithful  paramour,  who  had  stood  by  him  in  his  life 
of  crime  and  trouble.  Jack  was  not  exacting,  merely  tak- 
ing cow,  ax,  and  rifle,  generously  leaving  the  old  woman. 

.  But  there  was  another  party  to  be  appeased;  the  public. 
Disappointed  of  the  exhibition,  for  which  they  had  espec- 
ially come,  they  became  furious.  Men  and  w^omen  had 
come  in  from  forty  miles  around,  on  horseback,  on  foot, 
and  in  numerous  sledges  (many  wagons  were  not  then  in 
the  country);  a  great  crowd.  On  learning  that  Perry  was 
out  of  their  reach,  they  raged  and  cursed  at  everybody 
and  everything  generally,  and  Governor  Coles  in  particu- 
lar. If  the  governor  had  been  there,  he  would  have  been 
in  danger  that  day.  Consoling  themselves  with  whisky 
and  a  score  of  fights,  they  gradually  dispersed.  The  mur- 
der of  Hobson  terminated  in  the  transfer  of  a  cow,  an  ax, 
and  a  rifle,  from  an  old  ruffian  to  a  young  blackguard,  and 
in  giving  to  Perry  a  new  piece  of  furniture.  Perry  claimed 
the  coffin  and  the  rope  that  was  to  hang  him,  which  the 
county  had  procured  for  his  especial  use.    They  were  given 


THE   FIRST   COURT — JUDGE   WILSON.  I41 

up  to  him;  the  former  became  a  fixture  in  his  cabin  as  a 
corner-cupboard,  the  latter  a  happy  memento  in  his  rural 
hours.  Jack  did  not  live  long  to  use  his  rifle.  An  insolent 
assault  on  a  very  quiet  Englishman,  procured  for  him  a 
blow  which  gave  him  his  quietus.  He  did  not  die  for 
months,  but  he  never  recovered  from  that  blow. 

The  first  court  in  a  new  county  excites  great  interest, 
and  the  country  population  are  in,  almost  to  a  man.  At 
our  first  court,  a  poor  Frenchman  was  convicted  of  steal- 
ing a  quart  of  whisky  from  a  neighboring  distillery,  and 
sentenced  to  thirty-nine  lashes.  He  was  stripped  to  the 
waist,  tied  to  a  post,  and  the  lashes  laid  on  without  mercy 
by  the  sheriff.  The  sound  of  the  whip,  and  the  screams 
of  the  poor  wretch,  sent  a  nervous  thrill  through  the  not 
over-scrupulous  country-people,  who  came  in  to  see  the 
opening  of  the,  court.  If  an  honest  vote  could  have  then 
been  taken,  I  a<m  inclined  to  think  that  such  institutions, 
as  courts  of  justice,  would  have  been  banished  as  danger- 
ous and  barbarous,  by  a  great  majority;  and  I  don't  know 
that  the  instincts  of  the  untutored  backwoodsmen  were 
far  from  being  right.  A  kidnapper,  who  would  steal  a 
free  man,  and  plunge  him  and  his  posterity  into  everlast- 
ing slavery,  could  not  be  brought  to  trial.  A  murderer 
was  sure  to  escape.  But  the  poor  creature  who  had  not 
stolen  to  the  value  of  a  dime,  was  thus  unmercifully  dealt 
with. 

Hon.  William  Wilson,  a  native  of  Martinsburgh,  Va., 
then  a  young  man,  residing  near  Carmi,  was  the  judge  of 
our  circuit.  He  was  a  good  lawyer,  and  a  most  agreea- 
ble companion.     He  was  well  and  widely  known,  respected 


142     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS    COUNTY. 

and  beloved  wherever  known.*  At  that  time,  a  court  or 
an  election  would  draw  the  people  into  the  small  towns 
from  their  most  secluded  haunts  for  miles  around.  Their 
habits,  on  those  occasions,  indicated  the  existing  degree 
of  civilization.  The  grog-shops  (pioneer  institutions  in  all 
young  towns)  Avere  in  full  blast.  You  could  scarcely  cross 
the  street  (even  when  the  court  was  sitting,  perhaps  to  try 
some  offender  for  a  breach  of  the  laws),  without  seeing 
two  or  three  crowds  swaying  and  cheering  at  some  rough- 
and-tumble  fight  going  on  in  their  midst.  Such  were  the 
scenes  in  Albion,  from  1 8 19  to  1821.  Here,  for  the  pres- 
ent, I  will  leave  the  town,  and  give  the  rise  and  progress 
of  some  of  the  English  settlers  in  the  country. 

*  William  Wilson  was  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State 
of  Illinois  for  the  long  period  of  thirty  years,  lacking  a  few  months.  He  was 
first  appointed  July  7,  1819,  nine  months  after  the  State  was  admitted  into  the 
Union.  J.nnuary  19,  1825,  he  was  made  chief-justice,  and  occupied  that  posi- 
tion until  December  4th,  1848,  when  he  was  thrown  out  by  the  adoption  of 
the  constitution  of  that  year.  I  knew  him  well,  and  argued  many  cases 
before  the  Supreme  Court  vvhen  he  presided  as  chief-justice.  He  has  left 
behind  him  an  excellent  record,  and  his  memory  will  always  be  gratefully 
cherished  by  the  profession  of  his  day.  He  was  a  good  lawyer,  and  a  pains- 
taking, conscientious  judge.  Of  fine  personal  appearance  and  courteous  man- 
ners, he  presided  over  the  court  with  great  dignity.  On  leaving  the  bench, 
he  retired  to  his  farm  near  Carmi,  White  County,  where  he  died,  several  years 
ago.  For  thirty  or  forty  years  after  the  organization  of  White  County,  Carmi 
was  an. important  political  centre.  There  resided  Gen.  Willis  Hargrave,  Leon- 
ard White,  Daniel  Hay,  Lt.-Gov.  Wm.  H.  Davidson,  Chief-Justice  Wilson^ 
Gen.  John  M.  Robinson,  U.  S.  Senator  from  1830  to  184T,  Edwin  B.  Webb, 
and  S.  S.  Hayes;  men  who  made  their  mark  in  their  time,  and  were  well 
known  all  over  the  State. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Settlers  on  the  Prairies  about  Albion— Death  of  Mrs.  Wood— Other 
Settlers  —  Billy  Harris'  Wagon  —  Visiting  England  —  Changes  in 
the  Country  at  large,  but  little  in  the  respective  Villages— An- 
other Ship-load  of  Emigrants  —  An  Inappropriate  Settler — John 
Tribe— William  Clark  and  Family— William  Hall,  five  Sons,  and 
four  Daughters-  -A  Well  Accident — Emigration  for  1820  Quar- 
rels of  Doctors — Another  Well  Accident — Lawrence  and  Trim- 
mer Return  to  England — Col.  Carter — Further  Settlers  Sketched 
— Francis  Hanks,  Judge  W^attles,  and  Gen.  Pickering— Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Shepherd  Cowling,  Wood,  Field,  Ellis,  and  others— Old 
Neddy  Coad  — Accident  to  the  Sons  of  W^ilham  Cave  — Small- 
Traders  and  Farmers. 

Having  given  the  origin  of  the  town,  I  will  proceed  to 
give  an  account  of  some  of  the  individuals  who  first  set- 
tled on  the  prairies  around  Albion. 

Mr.  Brian  Walker,  Avith  his  friend,  William  Nichols,  from 
Yorkshire,  came  to  Philadelphia  in  1817,  and  to  our  Settle- 
ment in  r8i8.  Mr.  Walker  had,  when  he  landed  at  Phila- 
delphia, one  guinea  in  his  pocket.  How  much  was  left  of 
that  guinea  when  he  got  to. the  prairies,  there  is  no  record. 
He  and  his  friend  Nichols  got  on  land,  settled  side  by  side 
on  the  skirts  of  a  prairie,  one  mile  east  of  Albion.  They 
worked  hard,  opened  land,  built  their  houses,  married, 
raised  large  families,  and  became  possessed  of  abundance. 
This  is  putting  in  few  words  the  results  of  the  labor  of 
many  years.  -Mr.  Nichols  died  a  few  years  ago.  Mr.. 
Walker  is  yet  living  on  his  farm. 


144     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY* 

Mr.  William  Wood  of  Wormswold,  near  Loughborough, 
Leicestershire,  a  small -farmer,  with  his  wife  and  a  young 
son,  Joseph,  about  twelve  years  old,  left  England,  for  the 
prairies,  in  the  spring  of  1819.  Accompanying  him,  were 
two  young  men,  John  Brissenden  from  Woodchurch,  Kent, 
and  Wm.  Tewks  from  Seargrave,  Leicestershire,  and  Miss 
Mea,  afterward  Mrs.  Bressenden;  and  with  them  came 
an  acquaintance,  with  his  wife  and  family,  Mr.  Joseph 
Butler,  also  from  Woodchurch,  Kent.  Mr.  John  Wood, 
who  sailed  in  my  ship,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Mr.  Wood. 
This  party  kept  together,  and  came  the  usual  route,  from 
Philadelphia  to  Pittsburgh,  and  descended  the  Ohio  in  an 
ark.  When  near  their  journey's  end,  Mrs.  Wood  was*  taken 
with  the  flux,  and,  on  reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash, 
died.  On  a  point  of  land  at  the  junction  of  the  Ohio  and 
the  Wabash,  on  the  Illinois  side,  near  no  settlement  or 
habitation  of  any  kind,  her  grave  was  made  between  two 
trees,  on  which  her  name  and  age  were  carved. 

We  can  scarcely  imagine  a  more  melancholy  fate  for  an 
aged  man,  than  "to  lose  his  life-long  partner,  after  their  life 
of  toil,  and  just  at  the  end  of  the  weary  voyage  they  had 
undertaken  for  the  benefit  of  their  family — now  to  begin 
life  again  in  a  new  country,  with  his  one  little  son.  Mr. 
Wood  was  a  man  of  great  vigor  and  good  sense,  and  a 
sturdy  laborer  and  good  farmer.  With  gray  hairs  on  his 
head,  he  opened  his  farm,  planted  his  orchard,  and,  for 
many  years,  lived  to  eat  of  its  fruit. 

Mr.  Joseph  Wood,  then  a  little  boy,  now  a  man  of 
mature  years,  married  Miss  Betsy  Shepherd.  Mr.  Wood 
is  now  owner  of  a  large  farm  and  good  house,  and  said  to 


NOTICE   OF   EARLY   SETTLERS.  145 

be  the  best  farmer  in  the  country.     He  is  father  of  ten 
children,  and  how  many  grandchildren,  I  don't  know. 

Mr.  John  Brissenden,  after  acquiring  a  little  money  by 
working  for  others,  settled  on  a  piece  of  land  alongside  of 
his  old  friend,  Mr.  Wood.  He  went  the  usual  way,  opened 
his  farm,  married,  reared  a  large  family,  built  himself  a 
capital  house,  and,  besides  his  possessions  in  Edwards 
County,  had  a  mercantile  business  at  Maysville,  Clay 
.County.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bressenden  are  both  living  in  the 
enjoyment  of  good  health. 

William  Tewks,  ditto,  ditto.  Mr.  Tewks  added  to  his 
farm,  two  teams,  four  stout  horses  each  ;  was  a  carrier, 
going  between  Albion  and  Evansville,  Ind.  He  acted  as 
itinerant  commission-man  between  both  places,  making 
the  purchases,  which  his  wagon  brought  home.  He  drove 
one  of  the  wagons  himself,  and  met  with  an  accident, 
about  three  years  ago,  that  proved  fatal. 

John  Scavington  from  Nottinghamshire,  came  in  the 
same  year,  took  to  a  piece  of  open  prairie  beside  Mr.  Bris- 
senden. Mr.  Scavington  now  lives,  a  well-preserved  man. 
He  has  done,  as  his  neighbors  before  mentioned,  as  to 
house,  farm,  family,  and  lands.  He  has  kept  to  his  farm 
almost  exclusively,  and  is  a  hale  and  prosperous  man. 

William  Harris  made  most  of  his  money  wagoning  with 
an  ox-team.  He  has,  for  a  few  years,  retired  from  that 
laborious  occupation,  and  lived  on  a  farm  near  to  Albion. 
William  Harris'  team  was  a  sort  of  institution  in  the  coun- 
try for  many  years.  I  would  charter  Billy  Harris'  wagon 
for  a  long  journey  across  the  prairies.  It  was  strong, 
large,  well  covered,  and,  when  well  fitted  up  with  bedding 
10 


146     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

and  provender,  was  comfortable  enough.  Mrs.  Flower, 
children,  and  myself,  have  taken  many  long  and  pleasant 
journeys  in  it.  The  best  conveyance  for  our  rough  coun- 
try at  that  day — no  hill  too  steep,  no  bog  too  deep  for 
sturdy  William  Harris  and  his  strong  ox-team.  Not  rail- 
road-like exactly,  but  something  more  independent  and,  in 
many  respects,  more  comfortable. 

Mr.  George  Woodham,  who  came  in  Trimmer's  party,  is 
now  a  man  well-to-do  in  the  world.  William  Harris,  John 
Scavington,  and  George  Woodham  went  to  England  last 
year,  after  an  absence  of  about  forty  years,  to  see  their  old 
places  and  old  friends,  if  any  were  living.  When  they 
came  to  this  country  they  were  poor  men;  now  in  circum- 
stances sufficiently  easy  to  take  this  journey  of  pleasure, 
to  visit  again  the  scenes  of  their  boyhood  and  youth. 

England  had  seen  many  changes  since  they  were  there, 
railroads,  penny-postage,  an  extended  franchise,  free-trade 
— all  since  they  left  P^ngland.  But  when  they  reached 
their  respective  villages,  which  were  in  widely-different 
parts  of  England,  they  found  nothing  changed.  The 
church  of  centuries  was  yet  standing,  and  likely  to  stand 
for  centuries  more.  The  manor-house,  the  farm-houses, 
the  cottages  on  the  green  were  all  standing  as  they  left 
them,  in  number  and  condition. 

To  record  the  history  of  all  the  men  in  our  Settlement, 
possessed  of  the  power  of  labor,  with  ordinary  intelligence 
and  industry,  would  be  but  to  record  a  monotony  of  suc- 
cess. As  a  sample,  without  any  exaggeration  of  their  past 
or  present  condition,  of  all  such  men  which  form  the 
majority  of  the  farmers  of  our  Settlement,  I  give  the  fol- 
lowing: 


NEW   EMIGRANTS   COMING   IN.  I47 

Early  in  the  spring,  18 19,  the  ship  Colitmbia  sailed  from 
Bristol  to  New  Orleans.     In  her  came  Mr.  Samuel  Prichard 
of  Bamsted,  near  Epsom,  England,  with  a  wife,  four  sons 
and  four  daughters.     Mr.  Prichard  was  of  the  Society  of 
Friends,  possessed  of  property,  an  agreeable,  liberal,  and 
well-educated   man;   an   acquaintance   of  Mr.  Birkbeck's. 
He  selected  a  spot  on  a  gentle  eminence,  about  half-a-mile 
from  Wanborough,  on  the  road  between  Wanborough  and 
Albion.     Mr.  Prichard  unfortunately  fell  sick  with  fever, 
and  soon  died.     His  son,  Mr.  Thomas  Pritchard,  and  his 
brother   Edward,   reside   in   the   house   their    father  built. 
Mr.  Prichard's  house  and  place  strikes  the  eye  of  every 
stranger,  for  the  good  taste  of  its  arrangement,  its  neat 
and  simple  appointments.     It  is  a  neat  two-story  frame- 
house,  porch  on  the  upper  and  lower  stories  in  front.     The 
principal  feature  is  the  ridge  or  knoll  on  which  it  stands, 
so  smooth  and  verdant.     I  recollect  the  preparation  of  the 
ground.     It  was  grubbed  well,  ploughed  evenly,  harrowed 
thoroughly,  and  then  carefully  raked  by  hand.     This  even 
surface   was   sown   with    blue -grass,   bush -harrowed,    and 
rolled  smooth.     It  was  done  thoroughly,  and  has  a  beau- 
tiful lawn-like  appearance  to  this  day.     The  gate  in  front 
swings  as  easily,  after  forty  years'  hanging,  as  it  did  on  the 
day  it  was  put  down.     So  much  for  doing  things  well. 

Mr.  Jackson,  wife,  and  son  came  in  the  same  ship.  He 
was  an  inappropriate  settler — a  city  man,  with  confirmed 
city  habits  and  tastes;  a  copyist,  a  scribe,  a  small  lawyer; 
but  even  he,  I  believe,  got  his  living  here  as  long  as  he 
stayed,  by  writing  for  the  clerk  of  the  court. 

Mr.  John  Tribe  from  Ewell,  Surrey,  came  also  in  this 


148     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

ship.  He  was  without  capital,  and  has  supported  himself 
by  the  labor  of  his  hands,  and  is  now  living,  a  worthy  citi- 
zen of  Albion,  and  whose  excellent  memory  has  supplied 
me  with  many  of  the  particulars  I  am  now  recording.  Mr. 
Tribe  will  excuse  me  for  dwelling  a  little  on  the  general 
tenor  of  his  life,  as  I  think  his  example  rather  good.  He 
has  not  made  that  accumulation  of  property  that  many  a 
man  has,  that  came  with  as  little  as  he  did;  and  this, 
probably,  because  he  has  not  given  himself  up  to  the  one 
idea  of  acquisition  and  accumulation.  As  he  has  labored 
along  moderately  through  life,  he  has  always  reserved  a 
little  time  for  observation,  reflection,  and  reading.  He  car- 
ries on  the  business  of  carding  wool  for  the  country,  far 
and  wide,  one  of  the  most  useful  trades.  But  the  most 
necessary  and  useful  trades  are  not  always  those  that  are 
best  rewarded.  His  house  is  small,  his  living  plain  and 
simple.  He  reserves  a  small  room  for  himself,  where  he 
receives  any  friend  who  may  call.  On  the  table  are  writ- 
ing materials,  books,  periodicals,  newspapers;  an  excellent 
orchard  hard  by;  cows  for  his  family  use;  milk,  butter,  and 
cream;  his  vegetable  garden,  so  well  cultivated  as  to  sup- 
ply him  with  every  vegetable  in  season ;  and  a  few  flowers, 
of  the  choicest  kind,  that  would  grace  the  garden  of  Queen 
Victoria.  Is  not  a  New-York  millionaire  poor,  compared 
to  Mr.  Tribe.' 

Mr.  William  Clark,  wife,  and  six  children,  from  Mow- 
bary,  Surrey,  also  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  with  two 
laborers,  one  married  and  one  single,  arrived  about  this 
time.  Mr.  Clark's  family  came  down  the  Ohio  River  in 
an  ark,  and  met  with  a  sad  accident.     One  of  his  daugh- 


THE   HALL   FAMILY.  I49 

ters,  a  girl  of  twelve  years,  fell  overboard,  and  was  never 
seen  more.  He  settled  on  one  of  the  pretty  little  prairies 
between  Albion  and  the  Little  Wabash.  We  were  indebted 
to  his  capital  and  enterprise  for  the  first  wind-mill.  The 
architect  was  Mr.  David  Kearsum.  He  and  his  brother, 
George  Kearsum,  and  a  Mr.  Simpson  came  from  Norfolk. 
Simpson  went  back  to  New  York,  when,  in  a  warehouse, 
five  stories  high,  thoughtlessly  stepping  backward,  fell  on 
the  pavement,  and  was  instantly  killed. 

It  was  early  in  1821,  that  Mr.  William  Hall  from  Ewell, 
Surrey,  with  Mrs.  Hall,  five  sons,  and  four  daughters,  also 
settled  on  one  of  the  prairies  west  of  Albion  and  Wan- 
borough.  Mr.  Hall  owned  a  large  water-mill  in  England. 
His  family  had  possessed  this  mill  ever  since  doomsday; 
when  the  lands  in  England  were  all  divided  by  William 
the  Conquerer,  amongst  his  followers,  and  recorded  in 
doomsday-book.  Think  of  this,  ye  ever-moving  Ameri- 
cans, who  scarcely  stay  long  enough  to  gather  the  ripened 
ear  from  the  corn  you  drop  in  the  ground!  Mr.  Hall  was 
an  Episcopalian;  a  very  well-informed  and  educated  man,  of 
close  observation,  and  noted  facts  as  he  went  along.  From 
his  journal  and  collection  of  papers,  which  have  been 
kindly  shown  to  me  by  his  eldest  daughter,  Mrs.  Mayo  of 
Albion,  I  am  indebted  for  many  points  of  information, 
which  I  have  been  permitted  to  copy.  Mr.  Hall  had  a 
decided  taste  for  the  natural  sciences,  particularly  ornithol- 
ogy and  botany.  He  noted  the  arrival  and  departure  of 
the  birds  of  passage,  and  their  peculiarities  in  note  and 
plumage;  the  seasons,  the  weather,  and  some  of  the  inci- 
dents of  the  Settlement  as  they  occurred,  forming  quite  an 


I50     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

interesting  collection  of  memoranda,  running  over  several 
years.  One  short  note  in  his  journal  is  significant  of  the 
occasional  privations  to  which  first-settlers  are  liable.  "This 
day,  a  loaf  of  corn-bread  without  butter,  but  a  little  lard  as 
substitute,  and  red-root  tea,  without  sugar  or  milk,  was  our 
onl\'  fare."  His  reasons  for  leaving  England,  set  forth  at 
the  beginning  of  his  journal,  show  that  the  pressure  then 
existing  in  England,  and  felt  in  different  proportions  b\-  all 
classes  of  societ}',  was  seen  and  felt  sensibh-  b}'  him.  His 
first  and  chief  reason,  to  use  his  own  words,  was  "the  diffi- 
culty of  providing  for  a  numerous  family,  with  which  God 
has  blessed  me,  and  the  prospect  of  removing  that  load  of 
care  and  anxiety  which  fills  the  breasts  of  parents  on  that 
account."  The  other  reasons  of  Mr.  Hall  (objective),  relat- 
ing to  governmental  abuses,  though  interesting,  not  being 
quite  pertinent  to  this  narrative,  I  omit,  with  the  remark 
that  the  administration  of  the  British  Government,  since 
the  reign  of  \'ictoria,  has  adopted  a  more  liberal  policy 
than  existed  when  he  and  I  left  England;  and  a  larger 
experience  would  have  shown  Mr.  Hall  that  the  evils  of 
which  lie  and  man}-  others  complained,  are  incident  to 
Government  in  all  its  forms,  and  are  made  conspicuous  and 
fearful  when  it  is  administered  b}-  bad  men.  Mr.  Hall 
embarked  in  the  ship  Elcctra,  from  the  port  of  London, 
with  his  wife,  nine  children,  and  a  young  man,  Thomas 
Ayres,  February  25th,  1821;  arrived,  by  way  of  Philadel- 
phia, at  Pittsburgh,  May  21st,  1821.  His  flat-boat,  besides 
his  own  family,  contained  twelve  others:  ^Ir.  and  Mrs. 
Paul,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hibert,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kidd,  Captain 
Hawkins,  and    ^Ir.  Gilbert.     "We  formed  ourselves  into 


A   SAD   ACCIDENT.  151 

two  watches,  and  took  our  respective  turns  of  six  hours 
each,  from  8  to  2,  and  the  remainder  was  into  two  watches." 
The  party  arrived  at  their  destination  without  accident. 
His  settlement  was  hopeful,  and  he  seemed  satisfied  with 
his  present  mode  of  life  and  its  future  prospects.  In  less 
than  one  year,  he  gives  the  following  account  of  a  sudden 
and  severe  affliction  that  befel  him.  In  the  succeeding 
spring,  April  21  to  28,  we  find  in  his  journal  this  record: 
■"This  week  has  been  marked  to  us  by  one  of  the  severest 
afflictions  that  can  befall  a  parent — the  death  of  a  beloved 
child."  After  describing  his  house,  garden  of  five  acres, 
orchard,  and  opening  farm,  his  present  satisfaction  and 
bright  prospects  of  the  future,  in  a  long  letter  to  his  friend, 
Mr.  John  Marter,  on  the  other  side  of  the  sheet  we  find: 
■"Preserve  this  letter,  dear  John,  as  a  memento  of  the  insta- 
bility of  all  human  felicity.  The  very  day  after  I  wrote  it, 
on  the  fatal  morning  of  the  24th  of  April,  1822,  I  heard 
the  sound  of  my  two  sons  passing  through  the  porch,  into 
which  my  bed-room  opens.  One  of  them  I  knew,  by  his 
light  step  and  cheerful  voice,  to  be  my  beloved  Ned,  the 
other  was  unfortunate  Robert.  About  half-an-hour  after, 
I  heard  the  report  of  a  rifle  in  the  woods.  I  lay  about  a 
quarter-of-an-hour  longer,  until  it  was  light  enough  to 
dress.  When  I  went  out  of  the  door  it  was  just  five 
o'clock.  Upon  going  to  the  back  of  the  house,  where  I 
heard  a  most  unearthly  bellowing,  I  saw  poor  Robert  roll- 
ing on  the  ground  and  writhing  in  the  utmost  agony.  I 
immediately  concluded  he  was  dreadfully  wounded,  and  it 
was  some  time  before  he  could  speak.  He  exclaimed,  'Oh, 
father,  I  have  killed  Ned,  and  I  wish  I  was  dead  myself,' 


152     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

I  uttered  an  involuntary  exclamation,  and  sank  down  my- 
self upon  him.  The  noise  brought  out  his  mother,  and  the 
scene  which  followed  can  not  be  described.  Two  of  the 
neighbors,  aroused  by  Robert's  cries,  assisted  me  in  con- 
veying him  and  his  mother  and  laying  them  on  the  bed.  I 
went  with  them  in  search  of  the  body,  which  was  not 
found  for  some  time.  At  length  it  was  brought  in,  and 
buried  in  a  spot  which  my  poor  boy  had  selected  for  his 
own  garden.  It  seems  they  had  found  a  turkey.  Robert 
dispatched  his  brother  one  way,  and  lay  down  himself 
behind  a  log,  to  endeavor  to  call  up  the  bird  to  him  with 
his  turkey-call.  After  a  little  while,  he  heard  a  rustling 
within  shot,  and  soon  after  saw  what  he  concluded  to  be 
the  turkey,  took  aim,  fired,  and  leaped  up,  shouting  for 
Ned,  and  ran  in  triumph  to  pick  up  his  game.  Think  of 
his  feelings  when  he  found  it  to  be  the  corpse  of  his 
brother."  So  close  does  sorrow  stand  to  joy  in  all  situa- 
tions in  life. 

Lingering  in  the  Eastern  cities,  were  English  families 
who  had  not  permanently  taken  root  there.  When  our 
publications  about  the  prairies  came  out,  attracted  by  the 
picture,  and  pleased  with  the  thought  of  being  a  part  of 
the  first  among  a  colony  of  their  own  countrymen,  several 
of  these  came  on ;  and  many  of  them  without  sufficiently 
estimating  their  own  powers  as  first-settlers. 

Of  this  class  was  Mr.  John  Brcnchly  and  wife,  and  Mr, 
John  Lewis  and  wife,  one  son  and  two  daughters.  They 
left  Philadelphia  in  1818,  and  were  the  first  English  settlers 
in  the  south  part  of  the  Village  Prairie,  a  little  before  the 
Lawrence-and-Trimmer  party  arrived.     Mr.  John  Brenchly 


LEWIS   AND   BRENCHLY — THE   RESCUE.  1 53 

had  been  a  distiller;  not  a  man  of  country  habits,  or  pos- 
sessed of  much  capital.  Mr.  Lewis  was  a  man  of  excellent 
education,  and  possessed  a  good  deal  of  philosophical 
knowledge,  but  with  small  pecuniary  means;  a  most 
charming  companion  and  desirable  acquaintance.  These 
were  both  difficult  cases  for  a  new  settlement.  In  a  few 
months  they  both  left  their  quarter-sections  in  the  Village 
Prairie.  Mr.  Brenchly,  for  a  year  or  two,  lived  chiefly  by 
his  labors  as  accountant,  etc.,  but  finally  went  back  to 
Philadelphia.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lewis  stayed  longer,  and,  for 
a  time,  rented  the  first  brick-tavern  that  my  father  built  in 
Albion.  They  went  ultimately  to  Cincinnati,  and  found 
more  congenial  occupations.  It  was  a  great  loss  to  our 
musical  parties  when  they  left.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lewis 
understood  music,  and  had  fine  voices.  Speaking  of  the 
Lewis',  reminds  me  of  an  accident  that  had  nearly  proved 
fatal  to  one  of  the  family.  I  had  dismounted  from  my 
horse,  and  hitched  him  by  the  bridle  to  the  handle  of  the 
well,  that  stood  near  the  kitchen-door,  at  Park  House,  and 
had  run  over  to  my  cabins,  about  seventy  yards  distant. 
Soon  after,  a  maid-servant  came  running  in  haste,  and  said 
that  Mary  Lewis  had  fallen  into  the  well.  The  child, 
about  twelve  years  old,  was  standing  on  the  well-top;  the 
horse,  being  suddenly  frightened,  pulled  the  windlass  and 
well-top  all  off  together,  and  the  child  dropped  in.  The 
well,  about  forty  feet  in  depth,  was  ten  feet  in  water. 
Calling  to  Mr.  Matthew  Coombs,  a  Cornish  man,  then  liv- 
ing with  me,  and,  fortunately,  soon  finding  a  coil  of  rope, 
we  both  ran  over.  By  the  aid  of  Mrs.  Flower  and  the 
maid-servant,  I   lowered  the  man  into  the  well.     With  the 


154     I'^NCLISll    SKTILEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

same  aid,  and  with  great  difficulty,  we  hauled  up  the  man 
witli  the  apparently  lifeless  body  of  the  child   in  his  arms. 
For  nearly  half-an-hour,  every  means  of  restoration  was 
tried  before  signs  of  life  appeared.     She  was  saved;   and  is 
now  a  respectable  married  woman,  and   mother  of  a  large 
family.     This  well,  at   its  digging,  gave  us  all  a  very  pecu- 
liar fright.     The  well,  fortunately  as  it  turned  out,  was  of 
somewhat   lander   diameter   than   common.      It  was   sunk 
through   a  solid   rock   for  forty-five   feet.     The  sides  and 
iloor  of  the  well   were  of  smooth  sandstone.     The  digger, 
William  Truscott,  had   nearly  finished  his  work,  and   was 
sweeping  at  the  bottom  of  the  well,  just  preparatory  to 
coming  up.     The  family  were  all   in  the  house.     Suddenly 
a  dreadful   hubbub — the  mingled  voices  of  a  man  and   a 
beast  in  agony  and  distress — called  every  one  within  hear- 
ing to  the  spot.     The  cause  was  at  once  apparent.     One 
of  my  large,  fat   ICnglish   hogs   had    slipped    his   hindfeet 
over  the  well,  and  could   not  recover  himself     The  hog 
struggling  to  hold  on  by  his  forefeet,  but  slipping  lower 
and   lower,  sc^uealed   in  agony.     The  man  below,  looking 
ui)  in  terror,  roared  aloud  for  help,  whilst  he  flattened  him- 
self aeainst  the  wall  of  the  well,  from  which  there  was  no 
escape.     Down  went  the  hog  to  his  own  instant  death;  for 
a  moment  all  was  silent.     "Are  you  alive,  William.'"     A 
faint  voice  said,  "Oh,  yes,  pray  bring  me  up."     The  man 
was  brought  up,  almost  dead  with  fright.     The  hog  was 
eventually  brought  up,  but  split  down  the  back  from  head 
to  tail,  as  if  it  had  been  cut  with  a  sharp  knife;  just  as 
horses  are  found  on  a  battle-field,  split  open  by  a  cannon- 
ball. 


THE   SPRING   FAMILY — QUARRELS  OF  DOCTORS.    1 5$ 

In  1820,  Mr.  Thomas  Spring,  his  wife,  and  four  sons  left 
Derbyshire,   England,  for  the  prairies.     The  second  son, 
Archibald,  was  left  at  a  medical  college,  at  Baltimore,  to 
finish  his  studies.     The  family  were  proceeding  to  Wheel- 
ing by  land,  when   the  father,   Mr.  Thomas   Spring,  was 
taken  with  a  fever,  and  died  at  Washington,  Pennsylvania. 
Henry,  Sydney,  and  John  Cthe  youngest;  Spring  came  on 
with  their  widowed   mother,  in  a  wagon,  to  the  prairies. 
They  settled  on  Birk's  Prairie.     There  Mr.  Sydney  Spring 
farmed  for  many  years  with  good  success;  married  Miss 
Prichard,  and  brought  up  a  large  family.     He  is  now  living 
on  a  commanding  and  beautiful  spot,  in  the  outskirts  of 
Grayville,  enjoying  good  health  and  all  the  comforts  of 
life.     Mr.  Henry  Spring  is  a  merchant  at  Olney.     Young 
Archibald  Spring  joined  the  family,  and  became  a  practis- 
ing-physician  in  Albion.     The  first  Dr.  Pugsley  was,  for  a 
time,  his  bitter  opponent.     The  enmity  between  doctors 
has  always  struck  me  as  singular,  and  their  enmity  is  more 
general,  and  bitterer  than  is  found   between  members  of 
other  professions.     He  was,  for  a  long  time,  the  only  doc- 
tor, and  enjoyed  almost  exclusively  an  extensive  practice 
for  nearly  thirty  years.     He  was  carried  off  by  the  erysip- 
elas; and,  a  few  days  after  his  death,  of  the  same  disease, 
died  Dr.  Welshman,  a  skilful  and  experienced  man,  who 
had  not  been  two  years  in  the  place. 

The  hands  engaged  in  digging  a  well  for  Mr.  Lawrence, 
in  the  Village  Prairie,  met  with  a  fatal  accident.  The  well 
had  proceeded  to  a  considerable  depth.  As  usual,  in  the 
morning,  a  man  was  let  down ;  he  was  seen  to  stagger  and 
fall.     Another  was  let  down  to  assist  him;  he  fell  also. 


156     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

With  difficulty,  others  were  saved,  who  went  down  to  bring 
these  up.  Richard  Kniffer  and  Thomas  Clem,  two  active 
and  able-bodied  laborers,  full  of  life  and  health,  a  quarter- 
of-an-hour  before,  were  now  brought  up  corpses.  They 
were  carried  to  their  graves,  and  interred  with  the  solemn 
rites  of  burial  by  their  sorrowing  companions.  They  had 
incautiously  descended,  and  fell  victims  to  the  noxious 
vapor  at  the  bottom  of  the  well. 

Mr.  Lawrence,  I  think,  within  one  year,  Mr.  Trimmer,  in 
two  or  three,  returned  to  England;  and  their  improvements 
fell  into  other  hands  before  any  advantage  accrued  to 
themselves.  They  had  spent  as  much  money  as  they 
thought  prudent,  and  more  than  they  expected.  Besides, 
Mr.  Lawrence  was  a  city-bred  man,  and  both  were  bache- 
lors. To  spend  their  time  without  wife,  housekeeper,  or 
female  assistant  of  any  kind  in  the  house,  soon  gave  them 
a  distaste  for  prairie  life;  so  they  departed.  But  all  the 
farm-laborers  that  came  with  them  were  in  immediate 
possession  of  all  the  advantages  of  their  change  of  coun- 
try. Those  of  them  that  are  living,  and  the  families  of 
those  that  are  dead,  possess  all  the  independence  yielded 
by  an  industrious  farmer's  life. 

About  this  time,  Mr.  James  Carter,  wife,  and  family  from 
Lonc^on;  Mr.  Kenton,  market-gardener,  from  the  neigh- 
borhood of  London;  Mr.  Coles,  wife,  and  mother,  with 
four  or  five  children,  all  from  Liv^erpool;  Mr.  Peters,  a 
butcher,  all  came  in  one  party  from  Pittsburgh.  Mr.  Car- 
ter was,  for  many  years,  a  well-known  resident  of  Albion, 
holding  several  county-offices,  and  colonel  of  the  county- 
militia.      What    is    rather   remarkable,    twice    Mr.   Carter 


COLES,    SIMPKINS,   BOWMAN,  AND   OTHERS.  I  5/ 

returned  to  England,  and  twice  returned  to  Albion,- and, 
whilst  I  am  writing,  here  he  is  again,  not  quite  fourscore, 
hale  and  hearty,  drilling  the  companies  in  Albion  for  the 
Secession  War  of  1861.  Mr.  Coles'  family  settled  on  land 
between  Albion  and  Grayville.  The  family,  all  grown  up 
and  settled  on  farms.  The  old  folks  have  been  dead  some 
years. 

Mr.  Thomas  Simkins  and  family,  a  highly-respectable 
farmer  from  Baldock,  in  Hertfordshire,  arrived  in  Albion 
in  1 8 19.  He  kept,  for  a  short  time,  the  log-tavern  after 
Mr.  Pitcher,  and  was,  I  think,  the  host  when  Mr.  Welby 
from  England,  visited  the  Settlement,  went  home,  and 
wrote  a  book  about  us.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Simpkins  have  long 
departed  this  life;  their  sons  and  daughters  all  grown  up 
and  married,  some  in  Albion  and  some  in  other  places, 
respected  members  of  society,  now  grandfathers  and  grand- 
mothers. 

Mr.  Henry  Bowman,  then  a  young  man,  who  came  out 
with  Mr.  Pitcher  from  London,  for  many  years  kept  a 
brick -tavern  of  his  own  building.  Mr.  Bowman  married 
one  of  the  Misses  Simkins,  is  still  living. 

Mr.  Oswald  Warrington,  with  a  wife  and  large  family, 
for  some  time,  kept  a  grocery,  and  was  school-master  for 
some  time.  He  wrote  a  most  beautiful  hand,  and  was 
fond  of  music  and  sociality,  and  played  on  one  or  two 
instruments.  After  some  years,  he  went  to  Cincinnati,  and 
is  now  carrying  on  business,  although  an  old  man. 

In  the  first  year  of  our  settlement,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Orange 
from  London,  by  way  of  New  Orleans,  came  in  and  bought 
land  on  the   south  side  of  the  Boltenhouse  Prairie,  built 


158     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

temporary  cabins,  planted  a  capital  orchard,  and  laid  out 
a  handsome  garden.  He  went  afterward  to  Cincinnati,, 
where  he  entered  into  business  for  a  few  years;  returned, 
built  an  excellent  house,  in  which  he  and  Mrs.  Orange 
now  live.  Three  sons  and  two  daughters  married,  with 
families,  all  settled  within  sight. 

Mr.  Francis  Hanks  from  Ireland,  with  several  sons  growa 
and  growing  up,  bought  a  five-acre  lot  at  Wanborough,  and 
built  him  a  house;  after  a  tirne  he  returned;  his  eldest  son 
Francis  remained,  and,  on  September  ist,  1821,  married 
Miss  Prudence  Birkbeck,  as  before  mentioned.  Mr.  Hanks 
is  engaged  in  raising  stock,  and  is  now  living  on  his  farm 
at  Wanborough,  a  prosperous  man. 

Mr.  William  Hallum  from  Derbyshire,  England,  and 
several  other  English  families,  all  farmers,  live  in  the 
extreme  south  of  Edwards  County,  and  several  over  the 
line,  in  the  north  of  White  County. 

Mr.  Isaac  Smith,  James  and  Robert  Thread,  Mr.  Stan- 
hope, and  a  number  of  others  live  in  the  north  of  Edwards, 
and  over  the  line.  Isaac  Smith  and  the  two  Threads  were 
excellent  farm-laborers;  and  lived  with  me  and  my  father 
for  many  years.  They  are  now  wealthy  men.  James 
Thread  is  recently  dead.  Isaac  Smith  is  the  largest  land- 
owner in  the  County. 

Mr.  Henry  Birkett,  a  planter  from  Jamaica,  came  in 
about  1820.  He  built  a  good  house,  in  which  he  lived  and 
died;  and  he  was  buried  in  his  garden.  He  also  owned  a 
share  of  the  town. 

Judge  Wattles*  and  Mr.  J.  B.  Johnson  settled  in  Albion, 

*  James  O.  Wattles  was  elected  judge  of  the  5th  Judicial  District  of  Illi- 


JUDGE  WATTLES — RICHARD  FLOWERS'  FAMILY.      1 59 

The  former  as  a  lawyer,  the  latter  as  a  blacksmith,  and 
afterward  as  a  justice-of-the-peace.  Mr.  Johnson  is  now 
now  living  at  Harmony,  in  the  latter  capacity.  Judge 
Wattles  was  an  albino,  white  hair  and  white  skin,  with  the 
peculiar  red  eyes  of  that  race,  dreadfully  near-sighted,  had 
to  turn  the  paper  upside  down,  and  put  it  close  to  his- 
spectacles,  to  enable  him  to  read  it.  Notwithstanding,  he 
was  a  rapid  reader  and  writer,  an  excellent  lawyer,  and  a 
good  presiding-judge.  He  went  to  Harmony,  when  Mr- 
Owen  began  there. 

My  father's  family  came  from  Lexington,  and  took  pos-- 
session  of  the  Park  House.  The  family  consisted  of  my 
father,  mother,  two  sisters,  and  my  brother  Edward,  twenty 
years  my  junior,  and  then  a  stripling  youth,  now  an  exten- 
sive brewer,  and  a  man  of  large  property,  living  in  Strat- 
ford-upon-Avon; Warwickshire,  England. 

In  1 82 1,  Mr.  Wm.  Pickering,*  gentleman,  from  Apple- 
ton  Roebuck,  in  the  parish  of  Bolton  Percy,  Yorkshire,  six 
miles  from  the  City  of  York,  accompanied  by  his  friend 
and  cousin,  Mr.  Thomas  Swale,  made  their  first  settlement 
in   the  Village  Prairie.     On  the  9th   of  March,    1824,   he 

nois,  by  the  General  Assembly,  and  commissioned  January  19,  1825.  He 
was  legislated  out  of  office,  January  12,  1827. 

*  Gen.  William  Pickering  was  a  well-known  man  among  the  old  Whig 
politicians  of  Illinois  of  his  day.  He  was  a  representative  man  in  the  Whig 
party  in  the  eastern  or  south-eastern  part  of  the  State. .  I  often  met  him  in 
conventions,  and  knew  him  well  when  in  the  Legislature.  He  had  a  continuous 
service  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  as  the  member  from  Edwards  County, 
from  1842  to  1852,  a  service  of  exceptional  length.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
intelligence  and  public  spirit.  He  had  a  fine  presence,  and  was  thoroughly 
English  in  look  and  manner.  He  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
who,  on  his  accession  to  the  presidency,  appointed  him  governor  of  Washing- 
ton Territory. 


l60     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

became  my  brother-in-law,  by  marrying  my  eldest  sister, 
Miss  Martha  Flower.  Mr.  Pickering,  like  myself,  returned 
to  England.  On  his  coming  a  second  time  to  this  coun- 
try, he  was  accompanied  by  his  venerable  father,  Mr. 
Mathew  Pickering.  He  also  brought  valuable  live-stock — 
a  fine  bull  of  the  purest  Durham  blood ;  a  thorough-bred 
Shetland  pony;  two  rams  and  four  ewes  of  the  Lincoln- 
shire sheep,  famous  for  producing,  in  its  highest  perfection, 
the  long-combing  wool  of  England;  and  four  rams  and 
^ight  ewes  of  the  thorough-bred  Bakewell- Leicestershire 
sheep.  Gen.  Pickering,  a  widower  for  many  years,  is  now 
a  resident  of  Albion.  Mr.  Pickering  has  ever  taken  a  lively 
interest  in  every  thing  of  a  public  nature.  He  has  served 
in  the  Legislature,  is  extensively  known  in  our  own  state, 
and  also  known  abroad. 

With  my  father's  family,  came  Mr.  Thomas  Shepherd, 
his  wife,  two  sons,  and  daughter.  Thomas  Shepherd  had 
lived  with  my  parents  from  his  youth;  his  father  with  my 
grandfather  (on  my  mother's  side);  and  his  great-grand- 
father with  my  great-grandfather.  Such  instances  are  not 
uncommon  in  England.  In  these  cases,  the  confidence 
between  the  employer  and  the  employed  is  mutual,  and 
the  separation  like  the  separation  of  blood  relations.  Mr. 
Shepherd  had  the  care  and  management  of  my  father's 
garden,  and  of  his  riding-horses,  and  some  other  arrange- 
ments about  the  house.  Mrs.  Shepherd  had  the  exclusive 
care  of  the  children  of  the  family.  Conscientiousness  and 
integrity  were  the  prominent  traits  in  her  character.  The 
habit  of  reading,  from  her  childhood,  almost  amounted  to 
a   passion   with   her.      In   a  book    she   indulged   at   every 


THOMAS    SHEPHERD    AND   FAMILY.  l6l 

opportunity.  The  habit  of  reading,  aside  from  the  infor- 
mation it  imparts,  and  the  tone  of  quietude  and  reflection 
it  induces,  is  eminently  suited  to  those  who  have  the  care 
of  children.  Thus  the  children  of  our  family  had  always 
the  advantage  of  association  with  a  conscientious,  kind,  and 
well-informed  friend. 

Some  of  the  previous  earnings  of  Mr.  Shepherd  were 
invested  in  a  quarter- section  of  land  immediately  after 
our  arrival,  within  two  miles  of  Albion.  After  staying  with 
my  father  a  short  time,  he  went  on  his  own  property,  which 
soon  began  to  improve  under  his  energetic  industry.  He 
did  not  live  long  to  enjoy  his  dawning  prosperity.  The 
active  labor,  which  can  be  carried  on  continuously  in  cooler 
climates,  too  often  proves  fatal  under  our  hot  sun  and 
sudden  changes.  The  son,  also  named  Thomas,  was  soon 
old  enough  to  work  the  farm  for  his  mother.  A  few  years 
afterward,  we  see  him  a  married  man,  and  father  of  a 
family.  Mr.  Thomas  Shepherd  is  an  excellent  specimen 
of  a  practical  farmer;  strong,  industrious,  and  intelligent. 
The  monotony  of  labor  is,  in  his  case,  mitigated  by  the 
perusal  of  useful  books,  and  the  varied  information  con- 
tained in  the  newspaper  press.  This  description  of  men, 
in  which  our  Settlement  is  rich,  are  the  true  conservative 
elements  of  the  country.  The  purely  intellectual  man,  the 
exclusively  hard-working  or  purely  physical  man,  are  each 
of  them  but  half  a  man.  It  is  knowledge  and  industry 
combined  that  makes  the  well-balanced  character, 

Mrs.  Shepherd,  the  mother,  now  lives  with  her  son,  en- 
joying every  filial  attention.  Now  in  the  eighty-fourth 
year  of  her  age,  she  enjoys  a  book  as  well  as  ever :  exem- 
II 


1 62     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

plifyinf^  Montesquieu's  maxim,  that  there  is  no  "pleasure 
so  cheap  as  reading,  and  none  that  lasts  so  long." 

Two  sisters  of  Thomas  Shepherd  also  came  out  with  us. 
Mrs.  Carter,  the  elder,  had  been  a  widow  for  many  years ; 
she  lived  with  my  mother  as  housekeeper;  and  a  few  years 
aft«r,  married  Mr.  Wood  whose  wife  died  at  the  mouth  of 
Wabash,  as  before  related.  Mrs.  Ellis'  husband  died  at 
Pittsburgh.  Her  daughter  and  only  child  married  Mr. 
John  Wood,  he  who  came  out  with  me.  Mrs.  Ellis  was 
married  in  my  house  to  Richard  Field,  one  of  Wellington's 
old  life-guardsmen,  who  turning  his  sword  into  a  pruning- 
hook,  engaged  in  the  better  occupation  of  cutting  up  corn 
and  pumpkins,  instead  of  cutting  down  Frenchmen  and 
their  allies,  as  he  was  wont  to  do  in  former  days;  and  all 
these  friends  had  farms  contiguous,  or  in  sight  of  each 
other;  and  finding  themselves  every  year  better  off  in  this 
world,  until  the  moment  they  quit  it.  In  the  year  i8i8, 
Mr.  Henry  Cowling,  and  his  brother,  Mr.  John  Cowling, 
who  were  afterwards  joined  by  their  youngest  brother 
George  Cowling,  all  Lincolnshire- men,  came  in.  Mr. 
Henry  Cowling,  not  finding  the  Illinois  mode  of  working 
for  a  living  quite  to  his  taste,  went  South  into  those  states 
where  the  practice  of  making  others  work  for  you,  whether 
they  like  it  or  not,  and  giving  them  no  wages  for  their 
labor,  is  considered  the  right  thing.  Liking  the  country 
well,  there  he  lived,  married,  and  died.  Mr.  John  Cowling, 
the  second  brother,  is  living  on  his  farm,  about  four  miles 
south-east  of  Albion ;  hale  and  hearty,  an  energetic  and  in- 
dustrious farmer. 

It  was  in  1818  or  18 19,  that  Mr.  Hornbrook,  of  Devizes, 


A   PARTY   OF   CORNISHMEN.  163 

Devonshire,  called  on  me,  as  he  came  to  see  the  Settle- 
ment; but  having  made  previous  decision  to  remain  at 
Pigeon  Creek,  Indiana,  where  Evansville  now  stands.  He 
had  brought  with  him  two  men,  Richard  Husband  and 
Mathew  Coombs,  and  one  young  woman.  They  were  in- 
debted to  Mr.  Hornbrook  between  two  or  three  hundred 
dollars;  as  they  all  three  wished  to  stay  wiT;h  me,  I  paid  to 
Mr.  Hornbrook  the  amount,  taking  their  notes  to  be  re- 
paid in  work.  The  young  woman  lived  with  me  as  maid- 
servant, and  the  men  kept  with  me  at  their  work,  until 
they  had  faithfully  paid  me  all.  Much  of  the  complaint  of 
servants,  leaving  their  employers  in  America,  on  contracts 
made  in  Europe,  arises  from  the  contract  being  made  at 
the  low  European  price  of  labor,  which  begets  feelings  of 
discontent,  when  they  see  double  the  price  given  for  the 
,  same  work  in  America.  I  always  gave  to  the  persons  I 
employed  the  full  American  wages. 

It  was  in  the  year  18 17,  that  a  party  of  Cornish  men, 
Edward  Coad  and  family,  William  Tru^ott,  Sen.,  and 
Junior,  Samuel  Arthur  and  others,  under  the  leadership  of 
a  Mr.  Slade,  went  farther,  by  nearly  a  hundred  miles,  into 
the  interior  of  the  State  than  we  were;  and  settled  at  a 
point  on  the  Kaskaskia  River,  where  Carlyle  now  stands. 
This  little  colony,  going  much  farther  into  the  interior  at 
that  early  period,  suffered  more  inconveniences  than  we 
did.  Mr.  Slade  in  some  sort  abandoned  his  Colony  by 
getting  elected  to  Congress,  and  the  people  came  into  our 
Settlement.  Old  Mr.  Coad,  as  we  then  thought  him  and 
called  him,  lived  on  my  land  for  several  years,  and  after- 
ward bought  a  piece  for  himself,  where  he  has  lived  ever 


164     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNT V. 

since.  He  is  between  eighty  and  ninety  years  old,  and  it 
is  only  within  these  three  years  that  he  has  left  off  working 
as  vigorously  as  ever.  Old  Neddy  Coad  possesses  one  of 
those  simple-hearted  and  direct  natures,  that  seems  to 
know  no  guile,  a  truthfulness  and  simplicity  of  purpose 
seldom  found  united  with  brighter  intellect  and  higher  at- 
tainment. His'  wife  died  a  few  years  back.  It  is  said 
that  she  visits  them  now  and  then,  and  is  seen  by  the  hus- 
band, son,  and  daughter,  who  live  in  the  same  house.  And 
why  not?  We  learn  from  high  authority,  that  spirits  visit 
their  former  domicile  for  slight  occasion,  even  to  the  pay- 
ing, of  small  but  just  debts.  On  questioning  one  of  the 
family  as  to  her  appearance,  she  looks,  said  he,  as  she  used 
to  do,  only  about  fifteen  years  younger.  If  there  be  a 
place  where  faded  beauty  can  renew  its  charms,  the  road 
to  it  will  surely  be  found,  and  when  found,  a  popular  road 
it  will  be.  So  let  us  be  hopeful,  that  if  fifteen  years  of 
Time's  defacements  can  be  obliterated,  perhaps  the  time 
may  be  extended,  and  our  fair  friends  return  to  us,  fairer 
than  the  lilly  and  brighter  than  the  rose.  All  I  can  say 
about  the  matter  is,  if  such  things  are  to  be  believed  from 
the  testimony  of  others,  I  had  rather  take  old  Neddy 
Goad's  word  than  that  of  many  wiser  and  more  learned 
men.  So  it  will  be  seen  that  we  are  not  b^iind  the  times, 
even  to  a  spiritual  manifestation. 

Richard  Husband,  before  mentioned,  was  a  remarkably 
hard-working  man.  He  soon  acquired  a  farm  of  his  own, 
and  traded  to  New  Orleans  for  several  years  in  his  flat- 
boats,  which  he  built  himself  and  loaded  with  pork  and 
other  produce.  On  his  return  from  one  of  these  trips  he 
died  at  Shawneetown,  of  fever  contracted  on  the  river. 


WILLIAM   CAVE — ACCIDENT.  1 65 

Mr.  Samuel  Arthur,  one  of  the  Cornwall  band,  a  very 
young  man  then  and  not  very  old  now,  has  for  many  years 
been  a  citizen  of  Harmony,  and  a  respectable  man  of  good 
property. 

Mr.  William  Cave,  a  Devonshire-man,  after  brief  stay  in 
Ohio,  joined  our  Settlement  with  his  wife  and  family  of 
sons  and  daughters;  and  lived  for  sometime  on  njy  farm 
about  a-quarter  of  a  mile  from  Park  House.  Mr.  Cave 
had  been  a  soldier  for  many  years -in  England,  a  fine,  tall, 
strong  man,  and  an  excellent  swordsman.  He  was  fond  of 
music  and  played  excellently  on  the  violin;  and  generally 
made  one  of  our  musical  party  that  met  every  fortnight  at 
Park  House.  One  day,  as  he  was  chopping  down  a  large 
tree  near  his  house,  it  fell  suddenly,  knocking  down  his 
two  sons,  who  were  caught  and  crushed  under  its  heavy 
branches.  One  had  his  scull  fractured  and  died  immedi- 
ately, and  was  buried  in  our  small  family  burying-ground 
near  Park  House.  The  other  lad  had  his  thigh  fractured, 
which  was  set  by  Dr.  Spring.  He  recovered  completely, 
and  only  two  years  ago  went  to  California,  where  he  died 
at  the  age  of  thirty-two.  His  sisters,  then  small  children, 
are  now  married  and  settled  in  California. 

But  from  time  to  time  little  parties  came  in  year  after 
year,  chiefly  small-tradesmen  and  farm -laborers.  The 
latter,  a  most  valuable  class,  came  from  all  parts  of  Eng- 
land. The  farmers  brought  with  them  their  various  ex- 
periences and  tools,  necessary  to  work  the  different  soils. 
In  this  way  a  greater  variety  of  workmen  and  tools  are  to 
be  found  in  the  English  Settlement  than  perhaps  in  any 
one  neighborhood  in  England. 

Three  brothers,  Joseph,  Thomas,  and   Kelsey  Crackles, 


l66     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

able-bodied  farm-laborers,  from  Lincolnshire,  came  with  a 
full  experience  in  the  cultivation  of  flat,  wet  land;  and 
brought  with  them  the  light  fly-tool  for  digging  ditches 
and  drains,  by  which  a  practised  hand  can  do  double  the 
work  that  can  be  done  by  a  heavy  steel  spade.  They  lived 
with  me  three  years  before  going  on  farms  of  their  own. 
Their  experience  has  shown  us  that  the  flat,  wet  prairies, 
generally  shuned,  are  the  most  valuable  wheat  lands  we 
possess. 

I  omitted  to  mention,  in  connection  with  Mr.  Olver,  the 
name  of  John  May,  a  laborer  from  Devonshire,  who  ac- 
companied Mr.  Olver's  family  to  this  country.  John  May 
was  a  remarkably  sturdy,  hard-working,  industrious,  and 
honest  man.  He  married  a  young  English  woman  who 
also  came  out  with  Mr.  Olver.  They  were  both  of  them 
saving  anti  industrious  people.  He  worked  on  Park-House 
farm  for  many  years.  He  became  possessed  of  a  good 
farm,  which  he  cultivated  well,  and  built  upon  it  a  com- 
fortable house.  What  is  rather  uncommon  at  his  advanced 
time  of  life,  he  learned  himself  to  read,  and  enjoyed  read- 
ing as  much  as  any  man  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life.  His 
two  sons,  living  on  their  own  farms,  are  men  of  property 
and  respectability.  These  I  have  mentioned  are  a  part  of 
those  who  came  in  i8i8.  1819,  and  1820.  They  are  a 
sample  of  the  men  of  which  the  English  Settlement  was 
made.  They  are  those  who  encountered  and  overcame 
the  first  difficulties,  who  made  the  way  smooth  for  those 
that  came  afterward.  For  the  present,  I  must  take  leave 
of  the  settlers  and  their  little  town,  not  more  than  three 
years  old,  and  proceed  to  topics  of  more  general  interest 
connected  with  their  history. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

Religion  in  the  Settlement  —  Slanders  and  Efforts  to  divert  Emi- 
grants—  First  Religious  Services  —  Mr.  Pell  and  Mr.  Thomas 
Brown — The  Hard-Shell  Baptist  Preacher — ^Jesse  B.  Browne  and 
Judge  Thomas  C.  Browne — The  Campbellites  or  Christian  Church 
— First  Episcopal  Church — Gen.  Pickering  an  Active  Promoter — 
Influence  of  the  Chimes  of  Bells  —  Bishop  Chase  Consecrates 
the  First  Episcopal  Church  of  Albion — William  Curtis  and  his 
Congregation — Backwoodsmen  don't  like  Episcopacy — The  Meth- 
odist Church  Better  Adapts  Itself  to  all  Classes  —  Reflections 
Thereon — A  Methodist  Camp-Meeting  Described — Mr.  Birkbeck 
Unjustly  Assailed — Mr.  Birkbeck's  Letter  on  Religion — Features 
of  the  Country — A  Glowing  Description — The  Calumnies  against 
the  Settlement  Rebutted  by  Mr.  Birkbeck  —  Toleration  of  all 
Religious  Opinions. 

The  exhibition  of  religion  in  the  Enghsh  Settlement 
must  not  be  overlooked.  As  we  have  been  especially 
assailed  on  that  point,  it  is  our  duty  to  show  the  record  as 
it  is.  Our  assailants,  that  accused  us  of  infidelity  and  all 
manner  of  wickednesses,  raised  their  clamor  from  no  pure 
motive,  but  desired  to  pander  to  popular  prejudices  in  any 
way  to  render  the  Settlement  unpopular,  in  order  to  stop 
emigration  to  it,  as  I  shall  presently  show. 

In  a  Settlement  like  ours,  of  a  mixed  population,  various 
in  nationalities,  and  individually  differing  in  circumstances 
as  to  wealth  and  poverty,  degrees  of  intellect  and  educa- 
tion, from  every  county  in  England,  and  various  districts 
of  Scotland,  Wales,  and  Ireland,  from  Germany  and  France, 


1 68     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

and  from  almost  every  State  of  the  Union,  there  doubtless 
existed  almost  every  shade  of  religious  opinion.  In  a  new 
settlement  there  may  not  be  found  enough  of  any  one  sect 
to  support  a  minister  and  build  a  church;  and  there  is  not 
often  liberality  enough  amongst  religious  sects  to  aid  and 
support  each  other.  Thus  there  may  be  a  vast  deal  of 
religion  laid  away  and  concealed,  as  it  were,  no  public 
exhibition  being  made  of  it. 

A  trivial  but  singular  circumstance  occurred,  that  acted 
as  a  spark  to  combustibles  already  laid  in  train.  I  think  it 
was  Mr.  Pell,  the  son-in-law  of  Mr.  Birkbeck,  who  happened 
to  be  in  Shawneetown,  when  a  man  landed  from  a  boat. 
The  first  thing  he  asked  of  the  landlord  was,  if  there  was  any 
religion  in  the  English  Settlement.''  What  the  answer  was, 
I  don't  precisely  know;  but  it  could  not  be  very  encourag- 
ing, for  the  man  muttered  something,  and  said  then  he 
would  not  go  there;  turned  round,  and  went  on  board 
the  boat  again,  to  find  some  place  that  had  a  better  char- 
acter. 

Why  had  this  man  asked  such  a  question.''  Was  it 
usual  to  ask,  when  one  got  within  a  hundred  miles  of  a 
place,  if  there  was  any  religion  there.''  This  was  a  puzzle. 
What  could  it  mean.''  It  meant  this:  That  a  parcel  of 
land  speculators  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  seeing 
that  our  Settlement  was  attracting  emigrants,  whom  they 
wanted  to  settle  on  their  land,  east  of  the  mountains,  set 
on  foot  every  disparaging  report,  as  to  health,  success, 
provisions,  morals,  and  religion;  plying  each  individual  on 
the  point  at  which  he  was  most  sensitive.  And  this  began 
almost  as  early  as  our  first-settlers  arrived.     Of  all  this,  we 


PREACHING   AND   RELIGIOUS   SERVICES.  1 69 

were  for  a  time  unconscious.  It  was  not  until  after  their 
attacks  appeared  in  print,  that  we  were  at  all  aware  of  the 
extent  of  these  calumnies.  And  it  took  a  long  time  for  a 
book  or  a  pamphlet,  from  the  Eastern  cities,  to  reach  us  in 
those  days. 

Mr.  Pell,  whom  we  called  a  smart  Yankee,  although  he 
came  from  New  York,  saw  at  a  glance  that  it  would  never 
do  to  have  it  said  aboard  that  we  had  no  religion;  and 
that  another  Sunday  had  better  not  pass  without  public 
worship.  As  far  as  my  recollection  serves  me,  Wanbor- 
ough  took,  for  a  short  time,  tht  precedence  of  Albion  in 
organizing  public  religious  meetings. 

*  Mr.  Thomas  Brown,*  a  New-Englander  by  birth,  a  shoe- 
maker by  trade,  then  a  resident  of  Wanborough,  now.  a 
magistrate  and  a  venerable  resident  of  Harmony,  procured 
a  volume  of  Boucher's  sermons  from  Mr.  Birkbeck's  library, 
and  read  one  of  them  to  a  small  congregation,  assembled 
in  a  little  cabin. 

A  native  of  the  Island  of  Gurnsey,  Mr.  Benjamin  Grutt, 
read  the  Episcopal  service  in  a  room,  in  Albion,  set  apart 
for  the  public  library.  In  religious  sects,  there  is  scarcely 
toleration  enough  to  allow  of  a  united  movement.  Each 
sect,  therefore,  is  left  to  struggle  on  as  it  can.  An  itiner- 
ant minister  would  occasionally  ride  in,  and  give  a  sermon 

*  Thomas  Brown  and  his  wife  were  natives  of  Litchfield,  Kennebec  Co., 
Maine.  They  emigrated  to  Edwards  County  at  a  very  early  day,  and  settled 
at  Wanborough,  soon  after  the  town  was  laid  off  by  Mr.  Birkbeck,  and  occu- 
pied a  cabin  adjoining  his.  Mr.  Brown  was  a  most  devoted  friend  and 
admirer  of  Mr.  Birkbeck.  On  the  death  of  the  latter,  he  removed  to  New 
Harmony,  Ind.,  in  1825,  and  was  appointed  postmaster  of  the  town  by  Gen. 
Harrison  in  1841,  on  the  recommendation  of  Hon.  George  H.  ProfTitt  of 
Petersburg,  Pike  County,  then  a  Whig  member  of  Congress  from  Indiana. 


170     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

in  the  court-house,  and  pass  along."  Mr.  Jesse  B.  Browne 
was  clerk  of  the  court  at  that  time.  He  was  brother  of 
Judge  Browne  of  Shawneetown.  A  fine  man  was  Mr.  Jesse 
B.  Browne,  six  feet  seven  inches  high,  a  kind  and  jovial 
man,  too.     On  one  "occasion,  an  itinerant  preacher,  called 

*  Jesse  B.  Browne,  after  leaving  Albion,  became  a  captain  in  the  First  Regi- 
ment United  States  Dragoons,  then  commanded  by  Col.  Kearney.  Leaving 
the  army,  I  believe,  he  settled  at  Fort  Madison,  Iowa  Territory,  and,  during 
territorial  times,  was  a  somewhat  prominent  Whig  politician. 

Thomas  C.  Browne  was  appointed  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State,  October  9,  1818,  and  served  continually  for  more  than  thirty  years. 
When  the  judicial  system  of  the  .'^tate  was  changed,  in  1841-2,  the  number 
of  judges  increased  and  assigned  to  Circuit  duties.  Judge  Browne  was  sent  to 
the  north-western  Circuit,  including  Joe  Daviess,  .Stephenson,  Carroll,  Lee, 
Rock  Island,  Mercer,  Winnebago,  Ogle,  Boone,  and  Whitesides  Counties. 
He  settled  at  Shawneetown,  Gallatin  County,  soon  after  the  Territory  of  Illi- 
nois was  organized  and  was  a  member  of  the  Territorial  House  of  Represen- 
tatives, from  Gallatin  County,  in  1814  and  1S15.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Territorial  Legislative  Council  for  18 16,  '17,  and  '18,  when  the  Territory  of 
Illinois  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  State.  He  was  then  appointed  one 
of  the  first  four  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  by  Gov.  Shadrach  Bond,  better 
known,  even  after  he  was  elected  governor,  as  "Captain  Bond".  Jud^e  T.  C. 
Browne  died,  several  years  ago,  at  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  at  the  residence  of 
his  son-in-law,  Hon.  Joseph  P.  Hoge,  formerly  of  Galena,  and  member  of 
Congress  from  the  Galena  District,  from  1842  to  1846. 

There  was  an  incident  in  Judge  Browne's  career  which  led  to  stupendous 
results.  In  the  gubernatorial  contest  in  1822,  Chief-Justice  Joseph  Phillips 
ran  as  the  pro-slavery  candidate,  with  what  was  thought  a  certainty  of  an 
election.  Edward  Coles,  representing  the  anti-slavery  sentiment,  was  brought 
out  as  a  candidate,  and  it  was  thought  he  would  have  great  strength  in  the 
"Wabash  Country",  where  the  influence  of  the  English  Colony  was  beginning 
to  be  felt.  The  other  side  feared  his  strength  in  that  part  of  the  State,  and, 
to  take  votes  from  him,  Judge  Browne,  then  a  very  popular  man  in  the 
Wabash  Valley,  was  induced  to  present  himself  as  a  candidate  for  governor. 
The  Judge  obtained  an  unexpectedly  large  vote,  falling  but  a  little  short  of  the 
vote  given  to  Phillips.  As  the  result  proved,  he  did  not  take  votes  from  Coles, 
but  from  Phillips.  Had  not  Browne  been  in  the  field,  Phillips  would  have 
obtained  nearly  all  the  votes  given  to  Brov^me,  rendering  his  election  absolutely 
certain.  But  for  this  state  of  things.  Coles  could  not  possibly  have  been 
elected,  and  thus  enabled  to  play  the  role  he  did  in  preventing  Illinois  becom- 
ing a  slave-state. 


CAMPBELLITES,  BAPTISTS,  AND  EPISCOPALIANS.      I/I 

a  hard-shellpd  Baptist,  applied  to  Mr.  Browne  for  the  use 
of  the  court-house,  which  was  readily  granted.  The  good 
preacher  was  invited  by  Mr.  Browne  to  meet  two  or  three 
friends  and  take  a  little  refreshment,  in  a  private  room, 
after  the  sermon.  Corn-whisky,  the  only  refection,  was 
duly  honored,  each  taking  his  fair  share  without  flinching. 
At  the  end  of  the  sitting,  our  hard-shell,  true  to  his  name, 
could  sit  straight  in  his  chair  and  walk  more  steady  out 
of  the  door,  it  is  said,  than  any  of  his  lay -companions. 
These  were  not  the  days  of  temperance  societies.  Cold 
water  was  not  then  inaugurated. 

Soon  after  my  father  arrived,  in  1819,  he  preached  regu- 
larly, in  Albion,  every  Sunday  morning.  The  service  was 
conducted  after  the  manner  of  dissenting  worship  in  Eng- 
land— singing,  sermon,  prayer.  Earnest,  energetic'  preach- 
ing generally  attracts  attendance.  It  was  so  in  this  case. 
The  service  was  gratuitously  performed,  from  a  sense  of 
duty  in  holding  public  worship.  No  creed,  no  catechism, 
no  membership;  it  was  S.  free  church,  even  if  it  could  be 
allowed  to  be  a  church*  at  all,  by  more  strictly-organized 
bodies. 

Then  came  the  church,  built  and  brought  together 
chiefly  through  the  instrumentality  of  Mr.  Daniel  Orange, 
of  a  branch  of  the  Baptists  called  Campbellites  or  Chris- 
tian church.  A  Rev.  Mr.  Baldwin,  Episcopalian  mission- 
ary, preached  several  sermons,  gathered  the  Episcopalians 
together,  and  organized  a  church;  designated  as  St.  John's 
Church.  Mr.  Pickering  was  an  active  promoter,  and  gave 
very  efficient  aid  to  this  organization.  But  it  was  not  until 
some  years  afterward,  when  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Hutchins 


1/2     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

from  Philadelphia,  came  first  as  missionary,  afterward  as  a 
permanent  resident,  that  an  Episcopal  church  was  built. 
There  was  a  handsome  subscription  raised,  a  large  share 
borne  bv  Mr.  Hutchins  himself;  and  a  church  was  accord- 
ingly  built,  and  furnished  with  its  pulpit,  seats,  altar,  choir, 
and  bell.  But  the  chime  of  the  English  parish-church  was 
wanting!  And  without  that  charm,  Episcopacy  can  never 
here  attain  to  the  same  power,  over  the  feelings  of  the 
people,  as  it  does  in  England.  The  touching,  but  cheerful, 
peals,  simultaneously,  from  every  parish  spire  in  the  realm, 
as  the  shades  of  evening  close  in,  are  felt  by  all  hearts 
in  every  station  and  condition  of  life.  Their  charming 
melody  warms  the  hearts  of  its  friends,  and  does  more 
to  allay  the  bitterness  of  its  foes  than  all  the  preaching  of 
its  clergy,  and  the  exaltation  of  its  ceremonies. 

Yet  so  little  valued  are  these  sweet  tones  in  the  United 
States,  that  one  of  the  finest  chimes  of  large-sized  Spanish 
bells,  the  finest  in  the  world,  charged  with  their  full  alloy 
of  silver,  which  gives  such  melody  to  the  tone,  were 
knocked  down  at  auction  as  old  iron,  and  afterward 
broken  and  melted  into  water  pipes  or  railroad  iron. 

The  Episcopal  church  of  Albion  is  sustained  not  alone 
by  Episcopalians,  but  by  those  who,  if  they  belong  to  any 
church,  prefer  the  old  established  church  to  any  other. 
The  building,  when  completed,  was  duly  consecrated  by 
Bishop  Chase  to  a  crowded  congregation. 

Mr.  William  Curtis,  a  plain,  working  farmer  from  York- 
shire, a  man  of  small  pecuniary  means,  and  limited 
education,  preaches  to  a  small  congregation  about  two 
miles    east    of  Albion.     Mr.   Curtis    is    a    specimen    of  a 


FORMS   OF   WORSHIP.  1 73 

numerous  class  of  religious  men  that  took  root,  and 
sprang  up,  under  long  and  violent  persecution.  These 
heads  of  small  voluntary  communities  are  found  very 
generally  in  Scotland  and  the  northern  counties  of  Eng- 
land, hating  episcopacy  especially,  from  which  they 
received  their  chief  persecution.  They  claim  the  right  to 
preach  and  teach  for  every  man,  whether  learned  or 
unlearned,  who  feels  so  disposed.  Our  religious  forms  in 
Wanborough  and  Albion,  whether  of  Episcopacy  or  dis- 
sent, although  they  might  suit  the  religiously  English, 
were  not  accepted  or  in  any  way  attended  to  by  the 
backwoodsmen  around.  By  the  backwoodsmen  I  mean 
the  little- farmers  from  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  indeed 
from  all  the  Southern  States  before  mentioned,  and  some 
families  from  the  Eastern  States,  also,  but  more  particu- 
larly the  former.  The  silence  and  solitude,  the  absence 
from  all  emotion  in  which  they  lived,  seemed  to  demand 
some  excitement.  Whenever  they  came  into  town,  at  an 
election,  or  a  court,  and  frequently  on  any  ordinary 
occasion,  the  warmth  of  feeling  in  which  they  stood  in 
need,  first  raised  by  a  little  whisky,  would  show  itself  in 
free  fights  generally,  an  erratic  movement  in  that  way. 
An  elegant  sermon  read  from  a  book,  a  calm,  logical 
disquisition,  carrying  a  chain  of  reasoning,  tracing  effect 
from  cause,  a  hymn  sung  in  moderate  tone  and  without 
any  gesticulation,  a  short  prayer  in  a  subdued  voice;  was 
all  nothing  to  them.  Their  religious  feeling  could  only 
be  excited  by  more  powerful  influences,  embodied  in  a 
Methodist  camp- meeting.  This  was  the  exhibition  of 
feeling    in  which    they    delighted.     In    the  camp-meeting 


174      ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

their  feelings  could  be  displayed  in  all  their  force,  without 
restraint,  in  forms  far  less  objectionable  than  in  grocery- 
brawls  or  street-fights.  Well  organized  and  under  good 
discipline,  the  Methodist  church  wisely  adapts  itself  to  all 
classes;  and  in  this  it  is  not  only  exceeded  by  the  Roman- 
Catholic  church,  and  not  by  that  in  its  influence  over  the 
backwoodsmen  of  the  North-Western  States.  Fortunate 
in  appointing  preachers  suited  to  the  audience,  in  the 
camp-meeting  it  avails  itself  of  the  influences  of  nature  to 
aid  the  words  of  the  preacher.  United  the  eff'ect  is 
powerful  upon  all  ;  and  to  a  class  in  a  certain  stage  of 
civilization  quite  irresistible.  There  is  no  temple  con- 
structed by  art  like  the  great  temple  of  nature,  in  beauty, 
grandeur,  and  space.  It  is  in  the  silence  of  the  grove, 
canopied  by  the  blue  heavens  or  the  -starry  dome,  that  the 
feeble  voice  of  man  most  easily  influences  the  feelings  of 
his  fellows.  Nature  in  her  highest  moods  exerts  a  spirit- 
ualizing power  by  the  silent  appeals  of  her  many  beauties; 
the  temper  and  feelings  become  calm  and  kindly. 

Surrendered  by  these  happy  influences,  the  preacher 
can  more  easily  raise  the  feelings  to  the  highest  pitch  of 
fervor,  or  melt  the  spirit  to  a  more  humble  resignation.  A 
preacher  of  moderate  abilities,  with  a  good  voice  in  the 
open  air,  with  a  health-inspiring  breeze,  and  the  influences 
of  nature,  can  act  more  decidedly  than  eloquence,  reason, 
and  logic  all  combined,  on  the  feelings  of  his  hearers, 
squeezed  between  four  walls,  inhaling  the  pestilential  at- 
mosphere of  their  own  breath. 

On  a  warm  summer  afternoon,  as  I  was  riding  from  Mt. 
Carmel,  turning    a    point    of  wood,  came    suddenly   on   a 


METHODIST   CAMP- MEETING.  1 75 

scene  that  arrested  my  attention;  and,  as  a  stream  of 
people  were  going  in  one  direction,  I  joined  them  and 
went  on.  We  were  soon  in  front  of  the  Methodist  camp. 
It  was  in  form  of  a  hollow  square,  on  the  two  sides 
opposite  and  on  a  portion  of  the  third,  were  the  log-huts, 
with  roof  sloping  outward,  occupied  by  families  from  a 
distance,  furnished  with  bedding  and  a  few  simple  cook- 
ing-utensils; these  were  all,  or  nearly  all,  occupied.  In 
the  centre  of  the  third  side  was  an  elevated  platform  for 
the  preacher,  in  the  shade  of  three  tall,  handsome  oak- 
trees,  which  stood  immediately  at  its  back,  in  front  and 
below  was  what  was  called  "the  anxious-pew",  a  space 
about  fifteen  feet  square,  enclosed  by  a  light  post-and-rail 
fence.  The  body  of  the  square  was  covered  with  ranges 
of  light  and  even-sized  logs,  smoothed  on  one  side  by  the 
axe,  affording  sitting  room  for  about  three  hundred  people. 
There  was  an  interlude  in  the  service,  and  the  seats  were 
nearly  vacant;  people  stood  about  in  little  groups,  con- 
versing, or  welcoming  some  newly-arrived  acquaintance. 
Inside  the  camp  presented  to  me  a  singular  scene.  In 
one  apartment  was  a  family  cooking,  and  the  meal  all 
going  on,  in  company  with  acquaintances  from  without. 
In  the  next,  a  little  prayer-meeting;  and  all  were  kneeling 
at  their  devotions.  In  the  front  of  the  next  division,  a 
lively  party  of  young  and  old  chatting  together  in  high 
glee.  In  the  next,  stood  a  solitary  man  erect  and  with 
rigid  mien,  and  eyes  intently  fixed  on  an  open  bible 
held  in  both  his  hands.  Outside,  strangers  were  continu- 
ally arriving,  some  in  buggies  and  some  on  horseback, 
fastening  their  animals  to  the  branches  of  the  trees,  that 


1/6     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

in  a  semi-circle  stood  round  the  camp.  I  withdrew  to  a 
httle  distance  to  take  a  general  view.  Nothing  could  be 
prettier.  The  camp  itself,  standing  as  it  did  in  the  little 
prairie,  surrounded  by  beautiful  timber,  was  an  interesting 
object.  The  various  parties  of  youths  and  gay  maidens, 
with  their  many-colored  scarfs  and  ribbons,  streaming  in 
the  wind,  gave  to  the  whole  an  air  of  cheerfulness  not  to 
be  exceeded.  At  a  given  signal,  all  assembled  inside  the 
camp  and  took  their  seats.  The  preacher  ascended  the 
stand,  and  began  his  discourse  in  a  voice  scarcely  audible. 
As  he  raised  it  to  a  higher  pitch,  a  sort  of  groan-like 
response  could  be  heard  from  a  few  in  the  audience,  and 
now  and  then  an  emphatic  "amen"!  As  the  preacher 
raised  his  voice  from  bass  to  tenor,  so  the  responses,  in 
groans,  aniens,  and  shouts  of  glory  increased  in  number 
and  intensity.  The  scenes  in  the  anxious -pew  were 
getting  exciting,  and  people  crowded  around.  My  curi- 
osity induced  me  to  press  forward  to  a  closer  view.  I 
confess  I  was  startled;  but  a  moment's  reflection  checked 
any  censure  that  is  apt  to  arise  in  the  breast  of  every  man 
who  sees  doings  different  from  his  own.  All  real  feeling 
is  spontaneous;  the  mode  of  its  display  is  convential,  a 
mere  matter  of  taste.  There  were  about  fifteen  persons 
then  under  the  highest  excitement,  chiefly  females.  One 
man,  a  Yankee,  a  near  neighbor  of  mine,  was  there  rolling 
and  groaning  as  if  in  extreme  pain,  and  uttering  loud  cries 
for  pardon.  Among  the  many  shouters  and  exclaimers, 
one  respectable,  middle-aged  female,  of  pleasing  personal 
appearance  attracted  my  attention  among  the  many  extra- 
ordinary attitudes,  erratic  motions,  and  various  voices  and 


SCENE  AT   A   CAMP-MEETING.  I// 

sounds,  in  that  extraordinary  place.  With  eyes  raised 
upward,  arms  raised  straight  about  her  head,  incessantly 
clapping  her  hands  and  shouting  glory,  leaping  continu- 
ally upward,  as  high  as  her  strength  would  carry  her,  with 
all  her  fine  black  hair  streaming  do\yn  her  back,  and  per- 
spiration trickling  down  her  face,  she  presented  rather  a  fine 
picture  of  the  frenzy.  Two  young  women,  recently  from 
Scotland,  were  there,  affected  quite  as  strongly,  but  rather 
differently.  Short  hysterical  laughter,  sobs,  sighs,  and 
weeping  exhibited  the  depth  and  sincerity  of  their  feel- 
ings. The  preacher  lowered  his  voice;  exclamations 
became  fainter;  he  ceased;  and  silence  was  restored.  It 
reminded  me  of  those  extraordinary  scenes  recorded  in 
history,  of  children,  women,  and  men,  who  went  about 
for  weeks  and  months,  singing  and  shouting,  the  epidemic 
spreading  wherever  they  went.  But  the  scene  in  the 
"anxious-pew"  was  more  pandemonian  than  paradisical. 
Fear  and  flattery,  mingled  with  fevered  hope,  formed  the 
basis  of  their  violent  ejaculations  and  their  many  mourn- 
ful sounds;  all  seemed  to  be  fearing  that  the  God  they 
worshiped  would  bestow  an  eternity  of  torment  for  an 
error  or  a  crime.  I  was  impressed,  and  somewhat  de- 
pressed, by  what  I  had  seen ;  for  I  felt  no  sympathy  and 
could  yield  but  partial  approval.  The  social  meeting  of 
distant  friends  and  acquaintance  was  the  best  feature  of  it 
all.  I  could  not  deny,  that  the  whole  affair  was  well 
suited  to  the  times  and  to  the  people. 

From  early  documents,  I  see  Mr.  Birkbeck  acted  as 
chairman  at  two  meetings,  to  promote  a  subscription  for 
a    church,    and    several    notices    occur   of    the   Episdopal 

12 


178     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS    COUNTY. 

service  being  read  by  Mr.  Woods.  It  seems,  the  religious 
element  was  at  work  as  soon  as  the  Settlement  existed. 
As  the  infidelity  of  Mr.  Birkbeck  was  urged  by  the 
enemies  of  the  Settlement,  as  a  reason  for  its  avoidance, 
let  us  hear  what  he  himself  says,  on  that  head.  In  a 
printed  pamphlet,  entitled  "Extracts  from  a  Supple- 
mentary Letter  from  Illinois,  dated  January  ist,  18 19, 
addressed  to  British  Emigrants,  arriving  in  Eastern  ports, 
reply  to  William  Cobbett,  Esq.,  July  31st,  18 19,"  I  find 
the  following.  "In  the  solicitude  for  the  well-being  of  our 
Colony,  I  have  deprecated  the  formalities  practised  in  lieu 
of  religion.  1  have,  therefore,  been  deemed  a  foe  to  re- 
ligion ;  that  bond  which  connects  the  soul  of  man  with  the 
supreme  intelligence  in  whom  we  live  and  move  and  have 
our  being.  It  is  the  love  of  God  increasing  our  good-will 
to  each  other.  It  is  a  principle  of  action  aiding  the  moral 
sense;  a  divine  sentiment,  impelling  us  to  pursuits  reason 
approves,  and  restraining  us  from  evil.  If  I  have  written 
in  disparagement  of  this  principle,  I  plead  guilty."  These 
were  his  sentiments  as  published  by  himself,  and  should 
be  accepted  as  standing  on  better  authority  than  the 
imputations  cast  upon  him  by  his  theological  foes  and  the 
enemies  of  the  Settlement.  Nothing  more  need  be  said 
on  this  subject.  These  were  the  aspects  of  religion  in  and 
about  our  Settlement,  during  the  first  three  or  four  years 
of  its  existence. 

It  should  be  remembered,  that  neither  Mr.  Birkbeck  nor 
myself  came  here  as  preachers  or  teachers  of  religion. 
We  had  found  a  country  especially  adapted  to  the  Euro- 
pean emigrant,  relieving  him  and  his  immediate  successors 


A   BEAUTIFUL   PICTURE.  1/9 

from  the  heart-breaking  toil  of  felling  the  forest  before  he 
could  put  in  the  plow.  And  what  a  country.'  For  those 
who  will  come  after  us,  and  can  never  see  it  in  its  original 
beauty,  I  will  give  a  brief  record  of  its  features  as  we  first 
saw  them. 

In  the  month  of  April,  the   surface  of  the  prairie  be- 
comes   covered    mith    a    delicious    green.       It    resembles, 
when  viewed  at  a  little  distance,  a  smooth  carpet  or  well- 
shorn    lawn.     About    the    first    of   May    the    surrounding 
woods  appear  clothed  in  a  verdure  of  a  darker  hue.     As 
the    season   advances,  the  verdure    increases   in   intensity, 
intermingled    with    flowers    of    brilliant    hues,  from    the 
smallest  to  the  largest.     Herds  of  cattle  and   horses  are 
seen    quietly    grazing,  or    reposing    in    the    shade    of  the 
clumps   of  noble  oak-trees  that  stand   dotted   about   the 
prairie,  enjoying  the  cool  breeze.     It  is  a  fairy-like  scene 
on  which  the  eye  delights  to  dwell,  a  perfect  picture  of 
rural    felicity    and    peace.       As    summer    advances,    both 
herbage    and    foliage    attain    to    greater    amplitude,    and 
richness  of  color.     The  great  heat  of  the  summer's  sun, 
from    which   all    animals   seek    a   shelter,  seems   to   make 
perfect  every  variety  of  vegetable  life.     Autumn  finds  the 
tall  grass  of  the  prairie  in  full  size,  but  of  a  less  brilliant 
green.     Later  in  autumn,  the  trees,  as  if  to  defy  the  god 
of  day,  exchange  their  sober  livery  of  green  for  robes  of 
greater  brilliancy  and  more  gorgeous  beauty.     Standing 
side  by  side  are  trees  of  various  but  perfect  colors.     The 
pale-yellow  contrasts  with  the  violet  or  the  copper-color. 
Whole  clumps,  of  bright   scarlet  or  rich   crimson,  inter- 
mingle often  on  the  same  tree  with  bunches  of  yellow  or 


l80     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

carnation.  In  spring  and  autumn,  the  temperature  for 
many  days  together  is  dehcious — about  75''  Fahrenheit. 
Sitting  at  ease,  enjoying  the  beauties  of  the  scene,  fanned 
by  the  soft  zephyrs  that  come  roUing  up  from  the  south, 
laden  with  the  perfume  of  sweet  flowers;  the  lungs  in- 
haling the  delicious  balm,  redolent  of  health ;  every  sense 
is  gratified  and  simple  existence  is  a  joy.  As  winter 
approaches,  the  grass  becomes  dry  and  brown.  A  brand 
from  some  camp-fire  ignites  it.  Preceded  by  dense  vol- 
umes of  smoke,  the  flames  spread  wider  and  wider. 
Fanned  by  an  ever- increasing  wind  from  the  vacuum 
made  by  its  own  heat,  the  progress  of  the  fire  becomes 
terrific.  Animals  all  fly  before  it.  Those  that  are  para- 
lized  perish  in  the  flames.  The  trees  are  burnt.  Their 
leaves,  small  branches,  and  old  trunks  are  consumed.  For 
want  of  material  the  fire  goes  out;  but  the  smothering 
smoke  for  a  time  rolls  on,  then  lifts,  displaying  a  scene  of 
desolation  almost  dreadful  to  behold.  The  landscape,  a 
few  minutes  before  arrayed  in  the  brilliancy  of  autumn 
coloring,  is  now  a  monotonous,  dreary,  black  waste.  And 
so  it  remains  until  winter  advances  and  the  cold  sets  in. 
A  heavy  fall  of  snow  transforms  the  whole  scene  from 
black  to  white.  The  dazzling  whiteness  is  painful  to  the 
eyes.  In  its  extent,  its  uniform  surface  of  purest  white, 
its  dazzling  glare,  there  is  a  grandeur  in  its  very  dreari- 
ness. With  the  temperature  ten  or  twenty  degrees  below 
zero,  which  sometimes  is  the  case,  the  traveler  may 
obtain  experiences  of  the  steppes  of  Tartary  or  the  plains 
of  Siberia  on  the  prairies  of  Illinois.  After  a  short  period 
of  rain,  mud,  and  swollen  streams,  the  annual  changes  on 


THE   MISSION   OF   THE   SETTLEMENTS.  l8l 

the  face  of  nature  again  appear  to  go  their  perpetual 
round.  This  was  the  country  we  had  found,  made  known, 
and  recommended  to  others.  The  ahnost  uniform  success 
of  those  who  came  has  justified  our  choice  and  vindicated 
our  judgment.  Our  after  mission  was  to  point  out  its 
situation  and  the  way  to  it;  to  defend  it  from  the  mis- 
representations and  barefaced  Hes,  uns(irupulously  uttered 
by  its  enemies;  to  spread  before  the  European  pubhc 
from  time  to  time  our  progress  and  success;  to  aid  many 
who  had  expended  all  their  means;  to  assist,  both  by 
pecuniary  means  and  long  periods  of  time  and  labor,  any 
great  object  of  public  advantage,  whether  of  roads,  schools, 
buildincfs,  or  laws.  And  this  we  did  from  the  first  to  the 
last.  In  the  infancy  of  the  Settlement,  Mr.  Birkbeck's 
pen  was  active  to  rebut  the  calumnies  so  assiduously 
propagated,  and  in  defence  of  freedom  from  the  evils  of 
slavery.  In  the  middle  of  our  course  my  "  Errors  of 
Emigrants",  two  thousand  copies  of  which  were  sold  by 
the  publisher  in  London  in  two  weeks,  gave  a  fresh  im- 
pulse to  emigration.  Still  later,  by  special  request,  I 
published  a  letter  in  the  Lozvell  Courier,  descriptive  of  the 
prairies,  and  giving  other  general  information.  This  was 
translated  by  a  Mr.  Anderson,  a  native  of  Norway,  into 
the  Norse  language,  and  circulated  widely  in  Norway  and 
Sweden,  giving  some  impulse  to  the  emigration  of  Swedes 
and  Norwegians,  who  formed  settlements  in  the  northern 
part  of  our  State.  In  after  years,  I  received  letters  from 
Norwegians,  inquiring  after  their  countrymen  settled  in 
Illinois.  They,  not  realizing  the  extent  of  our  Western 
States,  little  thought  that  their  friends  whom  they  sup- 


lS2     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

posed  to  be  my  neighbors,  were  at  least  four  hundred 
miles  from  where  I  lived.  This  we  did  gratuitously;  and 
if  any  charges  were  incurred,  at  our  own  cost.  Thus  were 
we  engaged.  Religion  we  left  to  the  people.  If  we 
differed  from  others  in  their  speculation  of  things,  unseen 
and  unknown,  we  tolerated  all  opinions,  and  as  far  as  was 
proper,  promoted  tiie  wishes  of  our  neighbors.  Doubtless 
we  should  have  given  a  site  for  any  building  of  a  public 
purpose.  If  for  religious  puposes,  we  should  never  have 
put  any  hinderance  to  the  building  of  a  temple,  a  syna- 
gogue, a  mosque,  a  pagoda,  a  church,  or  Friend's  meet- 
ing-house; and  this  we  should  do  without  feeling  ourselves 
committed  to  a  single  dogma  contained  in  any  one  of 
their  creeds. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Consultations  as  to  how  to  Advance  the  Interests  of  the  Settlement 

The  Backwoodsmen  begin  to  Leave  the  Country — The  Michaels 

Brothers  — Moses  Michaels  Elected  to  the  Legislature,  and  a 
"Weak  Brother"  —  Descriptions  of  Moving  Emigrants  —  Two 
Early  Settlers  at  Albion  One  of  them  become  Governor— Eng- 
lish and  Americans  have  Different  Ways  of  Doing  Things- 
Emigrants  from  Europe  bound  for  Albion,  Land  at  nearly  every 
Port  from  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  —  A  Welshman 
Rides  on  Horseback  from  Charleston,  S.  C,  to  Albion  — British 
Sketches  Recognized  by  Britains  at  Albion— Cobbett's  Abusive 
Letters  about  the  EngHsh  Colony— Cobbett's  Character— Replies 
by  Richard  Flower  and  Morris  Birkbeck— Dr.  Johnson's  Charges 

Mr.  Fearon's  Book  of  Travels— Adverse  Influences— The  Evil 

Genius  of  Slavery. 

The  members  of  our  family  often  met  at  my  house,  but 
more  frequently  at  my  father's,  to  canvass  some  measure  of 
interest  to  the  town  or  settlement.  Myself,  my  father,  my 
brothers-in-law,  Mr.  Ronalds,  and  Mr.  Pickering,  and  some- 
times an  additional  friend  or  two,  composed  the  party. 
Measures  for  the  advancement  of  the  town  or  country 
were  then  discussed — the  erection  of  some  public  building, 
school,  library,  a  new  road,  a  petition  to  the  Legislature— 
and  action  in  each  case  was  often  decided  upon.  If  opin- 
ions were  divided,  we  would  take  an  appeal  to  the  public 
sentiment,  and  a  town-meeting  was  called.  These  meet- 
ings and  discussions  were  often  discordant  and  sometimes 
stormy.     However  they  kept  things  alive. 


1 84     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

In  1 8 19,  the  hunter-class  of  backwoodsmen  began  to 
move  off,  to  keep  their  true  position  between  the  receding- 
Indian  and  the  advancing  white  man.  With  all  their 
faults,  they  were  an  interesting  class.  We  were  getting 
too  populous  and  civilized  for  them. 

Three  brothers,  Moses,  John,  and  George  Michaels,  from 
one  of  the  Eastern  States — Connecticut,  I  think — were 
among  our  earliest  settlers  on  the  prairie  on  which  Scav- 
ington  and  Brissenden  had  settled,  three  miles  east  of 
Albion.  With  them  came  two  families  of  Browns,  from 
the  same  section.  Moses  Michaels,"  for  several  years  a 
magistrate,  was  our  first  representative  in  the  Legislature, 
that  met  first  at  Kaskaskia,  and  afterward  at  Vandalia.  A 
most  striking  example  of  a  man  being  placed  in  the  front 
rank,  without  possessing  a  single  qualification  to  lead  or  to 
command.  Without  one  positive,  his  character  was  made 
up  of  all  negative  qualities.  It  may  be  observed  in  higher 
offices  than  those  filled  by  our  humble  representative,  men 
are  often  chosen  for  their  moderate,  rather  than  their  supe- 
rior, ability. 

Other  settlers,  from  the  class  of  poor  whites  from  slave- 
states,  came  in  and  settled  among  us;  and,  now  and  then, 
a  more  substantial  farmer  from  New  York  and  Pennsyl- 
vania. It  was  curious  to  see  the  different  appointments  of 
these  various  American  settlers.  The  eye  could  detect 
from  whence  they  came  as  far  as  it  could  discern  them. 

*  Michaels  was  not  a  member  of  the  legislature  when  it  sat  at  Kaskaskia, 
but  only  once  a  member  of  the  House,  after  the  seat  of  Government  had  been 
removed  to  Vandalia,  and  that  was  in  1820-22.  According  to  Mr.  Flower's 
account  of  him,  that  was  quite  enough. 


THE   POOR   WHITE   SETTLERS.  1 85 

When  a  large  wagon  came  in  sight,  strong  and  complete, 
generally  painted  blue,  drawn  by  four  strong  horses  in 
high  condition,  its  feed-trough  behind,  tar-buckets  and 
water  swinging  beneath,  laden  with  a  full  supply  of  bed- 
ding and  household  gear  on  which  sat  sturdy  boys  and 
buxom  girls,  all  dressed  in  stout  homespun  clothes,  a  stal- 
wart man  in  his  deep-seated  saddle  driving;  that  wagon 
came  from  the  Keystone  State. 

Another  traveling  establishment,  of  a  far  different  char- 
acter, was  more  frequently  to  be  seen  coming  along — a 
little  rickety  wagon,  sometimes  a  cart  or  light  carryall, 
pulled  by  a  horse  as  lean  as  a  greyhound,  scarcely  able  to 
drag  the  vehicle,  which  contains  only  a  skillet,  a  small  bag 
of  meal,  and  a  little  piece  of  bacon;  a  gaunt,  emaciated 
man  and  a  large  family,  chiefly  daughters,  walking  bare- 
foot, and  without  a  change  of  raiment.  "Where  from, 
good  folks  ? "  The  answer  is  sure :  from  A\a.ha.7;ia  or 
CarolzV/r;  a  more  perfect  picture  of  destitution  can  not 
be  seen.  Give  them  time,  and  with  good  soil,  with  free- 
dom to  work  it,  they  will  soon  get  on,  (f  sober,  which 
many  of  them  are.  Their  only  tools  are  an  axe  and  a 
hoe,  with,  occasionally,  a  one-horse  plow.  They  have  no 
team  to  break  up  the  prairie,  and,  necessarily,  settle  in  the 
woods,  girdle  a. few  trees,  and  make  a  few  rails,  and  get  in 
a  corn-patch.  After  all,  these  are  the  best  settlers  we  get 
from  the  South.  Their  little  corn -patch  increases  to  a 
field ;  their  first  shanty  to  a  small  log-house,  which,  in  turn, 
gives  place  to  a  double  cabin,  in  which  a  loom  and  spin- 
ning-wheel are  installed.  A  well  with  a  sweep,  a  grape- 
vine for  a  rope.     A  few  fruit  trees,  and  their  improvement 


1 86     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

is  complete.  Moderate  in  their  aspirations,  they  soon 
arrive  at-  the  summit  of  their  wishes.  Tlie  only  difference 
between,  the  roving  hunters  and  these  stationary  settlers, 
appears  to  be  in  the  greater  sobriety  of  the  stationary 
class. 

Quite  a  respectable  man,  a  neighbor,  told  me  that  all  he 
possessed  was  put  into  a  bee-gum,  and  carried  by  himself 
and  wife,  when  they  came  into  the  State  on  foot.  We  have 
some  from  the  South  with  greater  pretensions.  But  they 
neither  plow,  nor  sow,  nor  build  houses,  nor  make  gar- 
ments. The  best  of  them  get  into  the  professions  —  a 
doctor  or  a  lawyer — but  their  great  ambition  is  to  get  to 
the  Leijislature,  and  then  to  Congress. 

Another  class,  from  another  quarter,  and  with  other 
abilities,  also  come  to  us.  Young  men  fresh  from  college, 
from  the  New-England  States.  I  have  two  examples  now 
in  my  eye.  These  two  young  men  came  to  Albion,  their 
wits  their  only  fortune.  I  mean  their  legitimate  wits;  that 
is,  the  power  of  turning  their  acquirements  to  the  best 
account,  losing  no  opportunity.  They  too  decline  manual 
labor.  One  went  to  Carmi.  He  was  a  magistrate  while 
there;  afterward  cashier  of  a  branch  of  the  State  Bank,  at 
Mt.  Carmel;  and  now  conducts  a  large  moneyed  institu- 
tion at  Evansville.  The  other,  at  first,  took  small  children 
to  teach,  at  two  dollars  a-quarter,  and  taught  them  their 
a,  b,  c.  Whenever  he  could  get  a  little  writing  in  the 
clerk's  office,  he  employed  himself  there.  He  was  soon 
seen  on  a  horse,  riding  the  circuit  with  the  lawyers,  and 
becoming  one  himself.  Tacking  his  political  sails  to  suit 
the  breeze,  he  got  elected  to  the  Legislature,  and  afterward 


EAST'N  AMERICAN — SOUTHERNER— ENGLISHMEN.    1 8/ 

became  governor  of  the  State  of  Illinois.*  This  is  a  class 
representing  the  active  intellect  of  the  country,  possessing 
a  great  deal  of  tact  and  intelligence. 

It  is  very  curious  to  see  how  differently  the  Eastern 
American,  the  Southerner,  and  the  Englishman  proceed  in 
their  way  of  farming,  where  they  all  begin  with  little  or 
nothing.  The  Southerner,  as  I  have  before  stated,  goes 
into  the  woods,  girdles  a  few  trees,  and  raises  some  corn 
and  pumpkins.  It  is  hard  to  say  how  he  employs  himself 
the  rest  of  the  year.  Industry,  that  is,  systematic  and 
continuous  labor,  he  seems  utterly  to  avoid ;  but  he  gets 
along  after  his  own  fashion,  and,  occasionally,  by  fits  and 
starts,  he  will  accomplish  more  than  either  of  the  others. 
But  his  periods  of  hard  work  are,  for  the  most  part,  sepa- 
rated by  long  periods  of  inaction.     The  Eastern  man,  or 

*  This  must  have  been  Augustus  C.  French  of  Palestine,  Crawford  County, 
elected  governor  of  Illinois  in  1846.  His  nomination,  by  the  Democratic 
party,  was  the  result  of  an  accident.  The  convention  could  not  agree  on 
any  of  the  prominent  candidates,  and  in  the  present  parlance,  French  became 
\h.t  da7-k  horse.  He  was  a  very  quiet,  unobtrusive,  honest  man,  but  not  in  any 
way  distinguished;  living  on  the  Wabash,  had  never  mixed  much  with  society, 
and  had  but  little  knowledge  of  etiquette  when  he  first  went  to  Springfield. 
It  was  the  custom  then,  as  now,  for  the  governor  to  give  occasional  receptions 
to  the  members  of  the  Legislature,  judges,  lawyers,  strangers  from  abroad,  etc. 
The  story  goes  that  Hon.  Thompson  Campbell  of  Galena,  who  had  been 
secretary-of-state  under  Governor  Ford,  and  who  was  not  only  a  great  wit> 
but  remarkably  quick  at  repartee,  attended  one  of  these  receptions.  Entering 
the  house,  not  finding  the  governor  receiving  his  guests  in  the  front  parlor,  he 
straggled  into  a  back  room,  where  he  found  him  sitting  alone  on  a  sofa. 
Approaching  him,  the  governor  extended'his  hand  and  asked  Mr.  C.  to  excuse 
him  for  not  'rising.  Quick  as  a  flash,  Campbell  replied,  ''Oh!  certainly,  cer- 
tainly, Goz'enwr;  we  nrjer  expect  auythittg  like  politeness  on  these  little  occasions.^'' 
Mr.  Campbell  represented  the  Galena  District  in  Congress  for  two  years,  from 
1850  to  1852,  and  was  then  made  a  judge  of  the  United  States  Land-Court  in 
California.      He  has  been  dead  some  years. 


1 88     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS    COUNTY. 

Yankee,  as  we  call  him,  shows  great  dexterity  and  good 
management  in  all  he  does.  He  has  a  certain  sleight  that 
seems  to  make  his  work  go' off  rapidly  and  easily;  and 
this  quality  is  observable  in  the  women  as  well  as  the  men, 
in  the  housework  as  well  as  in  the  farmwork,  and  is  very 
noticeable  when  contrasted  with  the  mode  of  labor  of 
most  of  the  Europeans.  If  he  meet  with  a  difficulty  he 
evades  it,  or  lets  it  stand  by,  until  he  is  better  able  to 
contend  with  it.  Industrious,  economical,  and  with  a 
thrifty  experience,  he  seems  to  get  along  easily,  and  sur- 
passes the  Englishman  at  a  great  rate.  The  Englishman, 
unpractised  in  the  ways  of  the  country,  does  not  take 
hold  of  things  by  the  smooth  handle.  He  plants  him- 
self squarely  before  his  difficulties,  he  evades  nothing,  but 
works  hard  and  steadily  to  remove  them ;  not  always  with 
dexterity,  on  •  the  contrary,  he  often  seems  to  take  hold  of 
things  the  wrong  way.  But  the  Englishman  has  a  higher 
standard  in  his  mind.  He  has  seen  well-cultivated  farms, 
and  substantial  and  convenient  farm-houses;  mansions 
surrounded  by  verdant  lawns,  kept  as  closely  shorn  as  the 
pile  on  a  Turkey  carpet,  and  the  gravel-walks  kept  as 
clean  as  the  floor  of  the  drawing-room.  These  high 
standards  he  may  not  reach,  but  he  approaches  some- 
what toward  them.  His  improvements  are  more  substan- 
tial, and  he  stays  upon  them.  After  some  years,  com- 
paring the  two,  the  Englishman  has  surpassed  the  Ameri- 
can. In  a  few  more,  the  American  is  gone;  but  the 
Englishman  remains. 

The  three  brother  Michaels,  who  seemed  to  have  less 
of  the  roaming  propensity  than  most  Americans  that  set- 


HOW   THEY   REACHED   ALBION.  1 89 

tied  in  the  same  prairie,  with  Wood,  Brissenden,  and 
Seavington,  are  gone;  but  the  latter  remain  there  stronger 
and  more  flourishing  than  ever. 

It  is  a  noticeable  fact  that  emigrants  bound  for  the  Eng- 
lish Settlement  in  Illinois,  landed  at  every  port  from  the 
St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  This  arises  from 
the  fact  that  the  laborers  and  small -farmers  of  England 
are  very  imperfectly  acquainted  with  the  geography  of 
America.  Indeed,  among  all  classes  in  England  there  is 
a  very  inadequate  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  United  States, 
and  scarcely  any  of  the  nationality  of  each  state.  The 
child  at  school,  looking  at  the  map  of  England,  sees  all 
the  counties,  and  London  as  the  metropolis  of  the  king- 
dom. On  the  map  of  America,  he  sees  the  states,  and 
Washington  as  the  metropolis  of  the  republic.  He  feels 
that  the  states  of  America  and  the  counties  of  England 
are  relatively  the  same.  I  question  if  half-a-dozen  maps 
are  to  be  found  in  all  England,  of  the  different  states 
marked  with  county  boundaries.  It  is  a  point  not  ex- 
plained to  him  by  his  teachers.  Thus  the  error  grows  up 
with  him.  As  various  as  their  ports  of  debarkation,  were 
the  routes  they  took,  and  the  modes  of  conveyance  they 
adopted. 

Some  came  in  wagons  and  light  carriages,  overland ; 
some  on  horseback;  some  in  arks;  some  in  skiffs;  and 
some  by  steam-boat,  by  New  Orleans.  One  Welshman 
landed  at  Charleston,  S.  C.  "How  did  you  get  here.''"  I 
asked.  "Oh,"  he  innocently  replied,  "I  just  bought  me  a 
horse,  sir,  and  inquired  the  way."  It  seems  our  Settlement 
was  then  known  at  the  plantations  in  Carolina  and  in  the 


1 90     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

mountains  of  Tennessee.  The  great  variety  found  among- 
our  people,  coming  as  they  did  from  almost  every  county 
in  the  kingdom,  in  complexion,  statue,  and  dialect,  was  in 
the  early  days  of  our  Settlement  very  remarkable.  Of  the 
variety  of  places  from  which  they  came,  I  had  some  singu- 
lar indirect  testimony. 

When  a  youth,  I  accompanied  my  drawing- master  on 
his  annual  sketching  tour  into  the  southern  counties  of 
Wales,  and  adjoining  counties  of  England.  From  some 
three  hundred  pencil-sketches,  we  selected  six  for  pictures 
in  body  color,  an  art  I  was  then  learning.  Like  many  first 
productions  of  children,  my  parents  put  these,  my  first 
efforts,  into  frames,  and  hung  them  up.  By  some  means 
they  came  in  our  baggage,  and  were  hung  up  in  my  cabins 
on  the  prairies.  One  day,  the  Welshman,  Williams,  look- 
ing earnestly  at  one  of  them,  asked  me  where  that  place 
was.  I  told  him  it  was  "Pont  ne  Vaughan,"  Glamorgan- 
shire, South  Wales.  "I  thought  it  was,  sir,  or  \  should 
not  have  asked ;  and  there  stands  the  Widow  Griffith's 
house.  I  have  been  there,  sir,  a  hundred  times."  And 
there  he  stood,  exclaiming  sometimes  in  Welsh,  sometimes 
in  English,  pleased  at  the  representation  that  recalled  to 
him  the  happy  scenes  of  his  youth. 

On  another  occasion,  my  shepherd  challenged  another 
picture.  "Is  not  that  the  River  Severn,  near  Bristol,  sir.''" 
"Yes."  "And  there  are  the  two  islands,  called  the  'flat' 
and  the  'steep  holmes,'  on  which  I  have  gathered  bushels 
of  birds'  eggs,"  said  he.  In  this  way  were  my  early  pic- 
tures nearly  all  recognized.  That  representations  of  places, 
taken  nearly  a  half-century  before  in  secluded  places  in 


TROUBLES,   ANNOYANCES,    CONTENTIONS.  '^^  I91 

England,  far  apart  from  each  other,  should  be  sent  into  a 
wilderness  of  another  hemisphere,  there  to  be  recognized 
by  persons,  some  of  whom  were  not  born  at  the  time  the 
sketches  were  taken,  seems  a  very  strange  thing. 

It  will  be  seen  that  our  position  is  not  on  any  of  the 
great  highways  of  travel.  We  caught  none  of  the  float- 
ing population  as  they  passed.  Most  of  those  who  came 
set  out  expressly  to  come  to  us.  This  circumstance  indi- 
cates some  leading  sentiment  that,  in  a  greater  or  less- 
degree,  is  common  amongst  us  all.  We  are,  generally 
speaking,  republican  in  politics,  with  a  strong  bias  for 
equal  freedom  to  all  men.  A  portion  amongst  us  are  of 
more  liberal  sentiments  than  strict  sectionalism  will  allow. 
All,  more  or  less,  of  a  reflective  and  reading  cast,  with  a 
certain  vein  of  enterprise,  or  we  should  not  have  been  here. 

Thus  far  we  had  been  successful,  contending  and  over- 
coming material  objects.  We  were  now  to  have  our  share 
of  trouble,  annoyances,  and  bitter  contentions.  Enemies 
were  rising  up,  seeking  to  arrest  the  current  of  emigration. 

New  towns  and  settlements  forming  deeper  in  the  inte- 
rior, and  with  a  fresher  popularity,  have  to  encounter  envy 
and  disparaging  remarks  from  many  of  the  inhabitants  of 
older  towns  and  settlements,  themselves  young  and  want- 
ing population.  To  pass  them  and  their  town  is  felt  as  a 
sort  of  insult.  There  are  persons  in  almost  all  places 
ready  to  exaggerate  the  difficulty  of  travel,  and  dilate  on 
the  disadvantages  of  the  place,  to  which  the  traveler  is. 
bound.  Others,  less  scrupulous,  give  utterance  to  every 
plausible  falsehood  to  arrest  the  stranger.  This  we  had 
to  endure,  and  we  suffered  from   its  influence,  perhaps  in 


192     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

a  greater  degree,  from  the  circumstance  of  our  Settlement 
being  more  widely  advertised  and  known.  We  lost  many- 
families,  that  came  out  to  join  us,  from  this  cause.  Scores 
and  hundreds  were,  by  these  fabulous  stories,  arrested,  and 
many  of  them  ultimately  detained  from  thirty  to  a  hun- 
dred miles  east  of  us. 

The  most  remarkable  instance  of  this  kind  of  influence 
occurred  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Filder,  ^who  came  over  in 
my  ship.  He  was  over  fifty  years  of  age,  of  apparent 
firmness  and  resolution,  worth  forty  thousand  pounds,  and 
came  out  expressly  to  make  a  member  of  our  Settlement 
in  Illinois.  He  was  one  of  those  who  made  the  journey 
from  Pittsburgh  on  horseback.  He  traversed  the  states  of 
Ohio  and  Indiana,  and  arrived  at  the  old  town  of  Vin- 
cennes.  He  had  doubtless  passed  over  much  rough  coun- 
try, and  experienced  many  annoyances — bad  roads,  swol- 
len streams,  bad  cooking,  buggy  beds— altogether  enough 
to  put  an  elderly  gentleman  a  little  out  of  sorts. 

Finding  that  he  was  a  man  of  property,  and  hoping  to 
detain  him  at  Vincennes,  they  plied  him  with  awful  accounts 
of  the  English  Settlement,  and  the  way  to  it.  When  he 
got  there,  he  would  find  no  water  to  drink;  all  the  people 
there  were  shaking  with  the  fever  and  ague.  To  get  there, 
he  must  sell  his  horse  and  buy  a  canoe,  to  get  through  the 
swamps  and  waters;  and  much  more  of  the  like  kind- 
Although  within  one  day's  ride,  forty  miles,  and  on  the 
verge  of  the  prairie  country,  for  which  he  had  taken  a 
voyage  of  three  thousand  miles,  and  a  journey  of  one 
thousand  inland,  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  them,  these 
unfavorable  reports  made  such  an  impression  on  him,  that 


COBBETT  S   SLANDERS.  193 

he   rode   back   the   journey,    and    recrossed    the  Atlantic, 
without  seeing  what  he  came  to  see. 

It  was  as  early  as  the  year  18 19,  that  WiUiam  Cobbett 
wrote  his  two  letters  to  Morris  Birkbeck,  which  appear  in 
the  third  part  of  his  "Year's  Residence  in  the  United  States 
of  America."  These  had  a  wide  circulation  in  England 
and  in  America.  Written  with  his  usual  force  and  talent, 
these  letters,  with  his  after-efforts,  had  a  decided  effect  in 
checking  the  current  of  emigration  to  our  Settlement,  and 
in  diverting  it  to  other  channels.  The  more  so  as  there 
was  truth  mingled  with  his  special  pleading,  mistaken 
premises,  and  erroneous  deductions.  He  accused  Mr. 
Birkbeck  of  propagating  misstatements,  in  the  form  of 
letters,  addressed  to  fictitious  persons  in  order  to  give 
them  the  semblance  of  truth.  He  quotes  from  a  particu- 
lar letter  as  containing  evidence  of  its  own  falsity.  Now 
this  particular  letter  I  took  to  England,  and  delivered  to 
the  person  to  whom  it  was  addressed,  Mr.  John  Graves,  a 
gentleman  of  great  worth  and  respectability,  of  the  Society 
of  Friends,  living  near  St.  Albans,  Hertfordshire. 

In  replying,  Mr.  Birkbeck  made  use  of  an  expression  to 
this  effect  (for  I  have  not  the  words  to  quote  from),  "there 
is  something  in  your  character  that  throws  a  doubt  on  the 
iHotive  of  your  statement."  The  expression,  I  think,  is 
correct.  With  all  the  strong  points  of  Cobbett's  character, 
and  in  them  there  was  much  to  admire,  there  was  still  that 
doubt  existing  in  the  minds  of  his  most  ardent  admirers. 
His  sobriety,  amazing  industry,  persistent  perseverance, 
self- instruction,  the  bringing  of  himself  from  obscurity  to 
name  and   honorable  notice,   are  admirable    powers   and 

13 


194     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

traits  of  character.  The  cloud  of  mistrust,  which  hung 
over  his  motives,  even  among  his  many  admirers,  I  pre- 
sume was  from  his  pecuHar  position  as  a  poUtical  writer. 
No  man  could,  for  so  many  years  as  he  did,  and  writing 
with  his  force  and  ability,  maintaining  one  set  of  political 
opinions,  praising  all  who  agreed  with  him,  and  pouring 
out  vituperation  and  abuse  on  all  who  differed  from  him, 
change  suddenly,  argue  for  all  he  had  formerly  denounced, 
praising  those  he  had  blamed,  and  vilifying  those  who  he 
had  formerly  eulogized,  either  maintain  his  character  for 
consistency,  or  dispel  all  doubts  of  his  honesty.  I  have 
known  many  of  Cobbett's  admirers,  and  I  rank  myself 
among  them ;  but  I  have  never  known  a  half-dozen  per- 
sons who  yielded  to  him  their  implicit  confidence.  Be  this 
as  it  may.  He  was  in  a  position,  by  issuing  his  disparag- 
ing statements  through  his  widely-read  Register,  to  do  us 
m.uch  harm,  and  would  have  done  us  much  more,  had  he 
been  implicitly  believed. 

Some  of  these  statements  were  replied  to,  in  England, 
by  the  pen  of  my  father,  and  in  letters  to  individuals  by 
myself,  and  by  Mr.  Birkbeck,  in  a  printed  address  in  pam- 
phlet form,  "To  Emigrants  arriving  in  the  Eastern  States; 
published  by  C.  Wiley  &  Co.,  3  Wall  Street,  New  York." 
The  reports  spread  in  the  Eastern  States,  at  first  from 
sources  to  us  unknown,  were  anonymous.  They  were 
most  dismal — "That  all  our  bright  prospects  had  vanished, 
and  that  we  had  been  visited  by  every  calamity,  physical 
and  moral;  by  famine,  disease,  and  strife;  that  the  sound 
have  been  too  few  to  nurse  the  sick,  and  the  living  scarcely 
able  to  bury  the  dead,"  etc.     Cobbett's  active  pen,  it  was 


WARFARE   AGAINST   THE   SETTLEMENT.  195 

said  (with  what  truth,  I  know  not),  was  employed  by  cer- 
tain land- speculators,  in  New  York  and  Pennsylvania. 

A  Dr.  Johnson,  personifying,  as  he  professed,  a  society 
for  the  benefit  of  European  emigrants  arriving  in  the  port 
of  New  York,  makes  charges,  without  any  scruple,  against 
our  situation  and  ourselves.  It  turned  out  that  he  was  a 
large  land-owner  in  New  York  and  Pennsylvania.  These 
calumnies  were  forcibly  and  well  answered.  But  the  venom 
had  spread  before  the  antidote  could  be  applied.  Hun- 
dreds who  saw  the  denunciatory  accusations,  never  saw  the 
replies.  When  these  statements  were  all  tripped  up,  the 
last  charge  was  made,  and  the*cry  of  infidelity  was  raised. 
But  we  were  out  of  reach.  Their  abuse  was,  in  some  sort, 
an  advertisement.  We  had  powerful  interests  to  oppose 
us.  The  British  Government  did  not  like  to  see  its  people 
strengthening  the  United  States,  and  neglecting  its  own 
colonies.  A  number  of  books  and  newspaper  statements 
appeared  suddenly  in  England,  some  anonymous,  some 
under  assumed  names,  and  one  or  two  with  real  names^ 
full  of  disparagement,  falsehood,  and  abuse. 

Mr.  Fearon's  book  of  travels,  although  appearing  under 
his  own  name,  it  is  said,  was  edited  and  published  by  the 
poet-laureate,  and  so  worded  by  him  as  to  give  an  unfavor- 
able turn  to  everything  American  in  the  eyes  of  the  Eng- 
lish emigrant.  To  sum  up,  the  British  Government  lent 
the  weight  of  its  influence  against  us.  The  most  popular 
writer  of  the  times  was  actively  engaged  against  us.  The 
Eastern  land-speculator.  Tories  everywhere.  The  bigoted 
religious  (and  they  were  legion)  were  all  against  us.  They 
disparaged  where  they  could  not  deny,  and  scrupled  not 


196     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

to  substitute  falsehood  for  truth,  whenever  the  occasion 
suited.  They  influenced  the  wavering,  intimidated  the 
weak,  and  forcibly  restrained  those  over  whom  they  had 
control. 

Thus  stood  the  war  without,  when  we  were  suddenly 
called  upon  to  turn  our  weapons  to  an  enemy  at  home — an 
enemy  more  to  be  dreaded  than  all  the  political  writers 
and  land-speculators  put  together.  It  was  the  evil  genius 
of  Slavery  that  stood  within  our  borders,  plotting  and 
contriving  how  to  make  the  whole  State  its  prey. 


CHAPTER   X. 

Conspiracy  against  Liberty — The  Convention  Question — The  Salines 

—  Slaves  to  Work  them  —  How  Slavery  got  a  Foothold  in  Illi- 
nois— Provision  of  the  First  Constitution — Gen.  ^A^illis  Hargrave 

—  System  Adopted  to  Change  the  Constitution  —  The  Project 
Exposed — The  Pro -Slavery  Men  holding  all  the  Offices — ^Judge 
Samuel  D.  Lockwood  an  Exception — Letters  of  "Jonathan  Free- 
man" and  "John  Rifle  "—Handbill  "Pro  Bono  Publico  "—Letters 
of  Morris  Birkbeck  —  The  Election  takes  Place  —  Vote  of  Ed-- 
wards  County — Slavery  Men  Active  and  Unscrupulous  —  Gov. 
Coles  and  Mr.  Birkbeck — The  latter  appointed  Secretary-of- State 
by  Gov.  Coles  —  The  Outrages  on  Gov.  Coles  by  the  Slavery 
Party — Letter  of  Gov.  Coles  to  Mr.  Birkbeck — Honorable  Excep- 
tions among  the  Pro -Slavery  Men,  Judges  Wilson  and  Browne 
— The  Cloven-Foot  Exposed  by  the  "  Shawneetown  Gazette  " — 
The  Death  of  Mr.  Birkbeck  —  Buried  at  New  Harmony,  Ind. — 
His  Memory  to  be  held  in  Respect  and  Gratitude. 

There  are  questions  asked  at  the  present  day.  Scarcely 
any  one  person  can  give  all  the  answers.  It  is  some- 
thing like  asking  a  soldier  to  give  a  description  of  a  battle 
in  which  he  fought.  He  necessarily  gives  the  history  of 
that  part  of  the  field  that  came  under  his  own  observa- 
tion. This  effort  to  obtain  a  convention  undoubtedly  had 
a  local  origin.  But  the  ramifications  of  this  conspiracy 
against  liberty,  soon  after  its  inception,  extended  over  all 
the  State,  even  to  the-  extreme  north.  There  are  those, 
doubtless,  now  living,  who  can  tell  what  part  the  centre 
and  north  of  the  State  took  in  this  transaction,  as  I  am 
about  to  describe  the  action  of  the  south.     My  impression 


198     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

is  that  the  treachery  came  from  the  south,  and  the  traitors* 
from  the  north;  at  least,  so  many  of  them  as  were  neces- 
sary to  give  an  effective  aid  to  the  southern  faction,  that 
desired  to  introduce  slavery  and  establish  it  over  the  State. 

The  better  to  understand  the  coming  controversy,  the 
circumstances  of  the  territory  must  be  referred  to,  as  they 
existed  previous  to  the  year  18 17,  and  the  different  tone  of 
feeling  that  existed  in  the  two  parties  living  in  the  south- 
ern part  of  Illinois;  one  strongly  opposing,  the  other  as 
determinedly  sustaining,  the  introduction  of  slavery  into 
the  new  State. 

A  saline,  or  water  strong  enough  to  make  salt,  was 
found  in  a  district  of  country  about  ten  or  twelve  miles  ' 
north-west  of  Shawneetown,  on  the  Ohio  River.  The 
salines  were  reserved  from  sale  by  the  United  States.  The 
General  Government  leased  these  salines  to  individuals, 
and  afterward  to  the  State  of  Illinois,  allowing  slaves  to- 
be  brought  into  the  Territory  for  the  purpose  of  working 
them.  Under  the  Territorial  law,  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  slaves  were  introduced  into  the  southern  part  of  the  Ter- 

*  Mr.  Flower  is  at  fault  when  he  describes  the  "traitors"  as  coming  from 
the  "north."  The  northern  counties  of  the  State,  as  they  existed  in  1822, 
were  Greene,  Pike,  Fulton,  Edwards,  Bond,  Fayette,  Montgomery,  Wayne, 
Lawrence,  Crawford,  Clark,  Madison,  and  Sangamon.  In  the  Senate,  in 
the  " Convention  Legislature,"  these  counties  were  represented  by  Jiz'e  anti- 
convention  men  and  t-uio  convention  men.  In  the  House,  in  the  same  Legis- 
lature, these  same  counties  were  represented  by  nine  anti-convention  men 
(including  Hansen)  a.nd /our  convention  men  (excluding  Shaw).  It  will  be 
seen,  therefore,  that  the  "great  body  of  the  anti-convention  men  in  the  Legis- 
lature were  from  the  northern  counties  of  the  State,  having  an  organization  in 
1822.  The  only  anti-convention  senator  from  the  middle  or  southern  portion 
of  the  State,  as  settled  at  t*liat  day,  was  Andrew  Bankson  of  Washington 
County,  and  the  only  anti-convention  representatives  were  Thomas  >lather 
and  Raphael  Wieden  of  Randolph  County. 


TLANTING   SLAVERY   IN   THE   SOIL.  1 99 

ritory,  chiefly  from  the  states  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 

For  all  practical  purposes,  this  part  of  the  Territory  was 
as  much  a  slave-state  as  any  of  the  states  south  of  the 
Ohio  River.  To  roll  a  barrel  of  salt  once  a  year,  or  put 
.salt  into  a  salt-cellar,  was  sufficient  excuse  for  any  man  to 
hire  a  slave,  and  raise  a  field  of  corn.  Slaves  were  not 
only  worked  at  the  saline,  they  were  waiters  in  taverns, 
draymen,  and  used  in  all  manner  of  work  on  the  north 
side  of  the  Ohio  River.  As  villages  and  settlements 
extended  farther,  the  disease  was  carried  with  them.  A 
black  man  or  a  black  woman  was  found  in  many  families, 
in  defiance  of  law,  up  to  the  confines  of  our  Settlement, 
sixty  miles  north,  and  in  one  instance  in  it.  In  some,  but 
not  many,  cases,  they  were  held  defiantly;  in  others,  eva- 
sively, under  some  quibble  or  construction  of  law;  in  most 
■cases,  under  a  denial  of  slavery.  "Oh,  no!  not  slaves;  old 
servants  attached  to  the  family;  don't  like  to  part  with 
them,"  etc.  And  in  many  cases  it  was  so.  In  some  of 
those  "attached"  cases,  however,  there  was  found  no  bar  to 
trading  off  the  poor  darkey  for  a  few  loads  of  salt,  or,  what 
was  better,  a  little  ready  cash.  This  was  the  planting  of 
slavery  on  our  soil,  within  the  bounds  of  the  saline,  legally 
.and  without  virtuality.  The  evil  plant  took  such  strong 
root,  that,  in  a  few  years,  it  was  found  difficult  to  pluck  it 
up  and  cast  it  from  us. 

In  article  6,  section  2,  of  our  first  constitution,  will  be 
found  the  limitations  to  the  term  of  service  and  the  period 
fixed  for  the  termination  of  slavery,  before  legally  per- 
mitted in  this  section  of  the  State.  It  reads  thus:  "No 
person,  bound  to  labor  in  any  other  State,  shall  be  hired  to 


200     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

labor  in  this  State,  excepting  within  the  tract  reserved  for 
the  salt-works,  near  Shawneetow^n^  nor  even  at  that  place 
for  a  longer  term  than  one  year,  at  any  one  time.  Nor 
shall  it  be  allowed  there  after  the  year  1825.  Any  viola- 
tion of  this  article  shall  effect  the  emancipation  of  such 
person  from  his  obligation  to  service." 

Here  the  whole  thing  was  supposed  to  be  settled.  Every 
body  thought  freedom  established,  and  slavery  excluded; 
and,  under  that  belief,  emigrants  from  free-states  and  from 
Europe  came  in,  and  began  to  make  permanent  settlements 
for  themselves  and  families. 

As  the  time  for  excluding  slavery  drew  near,  the  lessees 
of  the  saline — Granger,  Guard,  White,  and  others,  and 
conspicuous  among  these,  for  the  zealous  advocacy  of  the 
convention  cause,  was  Major  Willis  Hargrave,*  afterward 
legislator  and  general,  with  other  characters  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, made  a  bold  stroke  to  perpetuate  their  system  of 
servile  labor,  not  by  asking  for  an  extension  of  time  for 
hiring  hands  to  work  the  saline,  but  they  sought  so  to 
change  the  constitution  as  to  make  the  whole  of  Illinois  a 
slave-state. 

Their  mode  of  proceeding  was  in  private  caucus.  In 
these  meetings,  they  adopted  resolutions,  embodying  a 
system  of  action.  After  the  systern  of  action  was  more 
matured,  they  appointed  a  committee  of  five  from  each 

*  Gen.  Willis  Hargrave  was  the  official  inspector  of  the  Gallatin  Saline. 
His  residence  was  at  Carmi,  White  County.  He  represented  that  county  in 
the  Territorial  Legislature,  in  the  sessions  of  1817-18,  and  was  a  member  of 
the  first  Senate  of  the  State  from  181 8  to  1822.  He  was  a  man  of  influence 
in  his  day,  and  was  one  of  the  boldest  and  most  outspoken  advocates  of  a 
change  in  the  constitution,  so  as  to  make  Illinois  a  slave-state.  While  others 
temporized  and  hesitated,  he  openly  advocated  making  Illinois  a  slave-state. 


INFLUENCES  FOR  SLAVERY.  20I 

county,  empowered  to  appoint  a  subcommittee  of  three  in 
each  precinct,  well-wishers  to  slavery,  to  act  in  such  a  way 
as  they  thought  best,  to  induce  the  citizens  to  vote  for  a 
convention  to  amend  the  constitution.  At  first  it  was 
endeavored  to  keep  the  main  object  out  of  view.  It  was 
for  a  time  stoutly  denied  that  the  amendments  proposed 
to  be  made  in  the  constitution  were  intended  to  introduce 
slavery.  But  it  was  impossible  to  keep  the  secret,  and 
very  soon  the  true  object  was  no  longer  denied. 

Then  came  articles  in  the  newspapers,  advocating  the 
introduction  of  slavery  for  a  limited  time,  quite  plausible 
and  mild  at  first.  They  were  trying  to  tickle  the  fish,  and 
did  not  want  him  to  flounder  before  their  fingers  were  in 
his  gills,  and  they  could  throw  him  out  of  his  element. 

After  the  action  of  the  conventionists  at  Vandalia,  the 
advocacy  of  slavery,  in  full,  appeared  in  all  the  papers  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  State,  and  in  those  of  Louisville 
and  St.  Louis.  For  a  long  time,  the  people  were  asleep  on 
the  subject,  and  the  slave-holders  were  enabled,  under 
cover  of  this  apathy,  to  mature  all  their  plans.  Neither  is 
this  surprising,  when  we  consider  the  state  of  the  country. 
Settlements  were  far  apart;  but  few  took  newspapers,  and 
fewer  read  them;  personal  communication  was  infrequent. 
The  country  people  were  all  engaged  in  their  daily  labor, 
not  dreaming  of  any  impending  change  in  our  system  of 
laws  and  government.  As  to  the  tone  of  feeling  among 
the  people  residing  in  that  large  portion  of  the  State  south 
of  our  Settlement,  it  was  actively  or  negatively  in  favor  of 
slavery.  Our  influential  men,  and  all  who  held  office,  from 
the    governor    to    the    constable,  were    from    slave -states. 


202     ENGT.ISH    SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

Every  sheriff  and  every  clerk  of  the  county  were  pro- 
slavery  men.  Every  lawyer  and  all  our  judges  were  from 
slave-states,  and  pro-slavery.  I  know^  of  but  one  excep- 
tion in  the  whole  bar  that  attended  our  courts,  and  that 
was  Samuel  D.  Lockwood,*  for  many  years  a  lawyer  and 
judge,  now  living,  I  believe,  at  Batavia. 

The  people  were  almost  all  of  the  class  of  poor  whites, 
from  the  Southern  States.  Many  of  them  had  been  negro- 
overseers.  Such  was  the  population  south  of  our  Settle- 
ment in  Edwards  County.  The  feeling  in  Edwards  County 
was  widely  different;  the  English  Settlement  in  the  west 
and  the  Methodist  Settlement  in  the  east  were  strongly 
against  slavery.  When  the  action  of  the  conventionists 
became  known  to  our  people,  it  aroused  the  indignation 
that  had  slumbered  too  long. 

The  mode  of  proceeding  to  influence  the  vote  of  the 
Legislature,  I  will  give  in  the  words  of  an  eye-witness,  to 
all  the  proceedings.  The  history  of  the  business  appears 
to  be  shortly  this  :  "Certain  members  of  that  body  (speak- 
ing of  the  assembly),  anxious  to  introduce  a  forbidden  sys- 

r 
tem  among  us,  formed  themselves  into  a  junto  or  caucus. 

soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  session,  and  offered 
to  other  members  their  votes  in  favor  of  any  proposition 
which  those  members  had  any  interest  in  carrying,  in  con- 
sideration of  their  pledging  themselves  to  support  the 
measure  of  a  convention.     By  the  accession  of  these,  their 

+  Samuel  D.  Lockwood  was  appointed  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Illinois,  January  19,  1S25,  and  held  the  office  continuously  till  December  4, 
1848.  As  a  lawyer  he  held  a  good  rank,  and  was  distinguished  by  the  probity 
of  his  character  and  the  purity  of  his  life.  Illinois  never  had  a  magistrate 
more  respected  and  beloved  than  Judge  Lockwood. 


THE   CONTEST   IN   THE   LEGISLATURE.  203 

■first  victims,  the  caucus,  in  fact,  became  the  legishiture,  as 
by  comprising  a  majority  of  both  houses,  it  was  capable  of 
carrying  every  question,  that  one  excepted.  Other  represen- 
tatives, who  had  not  as  yet  bartered  away  their  independ- 
ence, soon  discovered  that  they  were  completely  at  the 
mercy  of  the  junto;  and,  in  order  to  recover  the  means  of 
serving  their  constituents  on  those  points  of  local  interest 
which,  when  combined,  form  the  general  weal,  suffered 
themselves,  one  by  one,  to  be  bought  over,  until  the  faction 
had  acquired  nearly  two -thirds  of  the  whole  number  of 
votes — the  strength  requisite  to  carry  their  favorite  meas- 
ure, without  the  accomplishment  of  which,  they  declared, 
they  would  not  quit  Vandalia. 

"They  repeatedly  tried  their  strength  by  preparatory 
resolutions,  and  at  length,  on  the  5th  of  February,  brought 
forward  the  main  question;  but  it  was  decided  against 
them  by  a  majority  of  two.  They  were  not,  however,  to 
be  so  baffled.  They  carried  a  vote  of  reconsideration,  and 
the  resolution  was  laid  upon  the  table.  On  the  iithof 
February,  having  gained  over  the  deficient  votes  by  means 
which  it  would  seem  invidious  to  mention,  the  resolution 
was  again  brought  forward,  and  again  lost,  through  the 
defection  of  a  member  who,  on  a  former  occasion,  had 
voted  for  it.  Notwithstanding  this  second  decision,  they 
persevered  in  their  purpose. 

"One  of  the  party,  although  in  the  constitutional  minority 
on  the  last  division,  again  moved  a  reconsideration  of  the 
question.  The  speaker  declared  the  motion  to  be  out  of 
order,  because  the  mover  was  in  the  minority.  They 
attempted  to  overrule  the  decision  of  the  speaker,  by  an 


204     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTV. 

appeal  to  the  House;  but  the  chair  was  supported  by  a 
majority  of  three.  Here,  it  might  be  supposed,  the  ques- 
tion was  finally  decided,  and  would  have  been  allowed  to 
rest;  but  it  proved  otherwise.  On  the  succeeding  day,  the 
vote  confirming  the  speaker's  decision  was  reversed,  and 
the  motion  for  reconsideration,  made  by  one  of  the  minor- 
ity, carried;  and  to  extinguish  the  vote  of  the  defaulter, 
and  create  a  favorable  one  in  the  room  of  it,  as  no  such 
vote  could  be  found  in  the  House,  they  had  recourse  to  a 
proceeding,  the  most  unjust  and  impudently  tyrannical 
that  ever,  as  I  believe,  disgraced  the  Legislature  of  a  free 
country. 

"By  an  arbitrary  resolution,  in  direct  violation  of  law, 
they  expelled  one  of  the  representatives,  who  had  been 
established  in  his  seat,  by  the  decision  of  the  House,  and 
introduced  in  his  room  a  man  favorable  to  their  views,  who 
had  been  declared,  by  the  same  decision,  not  to  be  a  repre- 
sentative. Thus  was  Mr.  Hansen  illegally  expelled  from 
his  seat  in  the  Legislature,  and  Mr.  Shaw  illegally  placed 
in.  Having  accomplished  this,  they  brought  forward  the 
main  question  the  third  time,  and  carried  it  by  the  vote  of 
this  man,  whom  they  created  a  member  for  the  express 
purpose,  at  the  close  of  the  session." 

Ford,  in  his  history  of  Illinois,  confirms  this  statement, 
but  makes  the  tergiversation  of  the  assembly  more  appar- 
ent. He  says,  at  page  52:  "When  the  Legislature  assem- 
bled, it  was  found  that  the  Senate  contained  the  requisite 
two-thirds'  majority;  but  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
by  deciding  a  contested  election  in  favor  of  one  of  the  can- 
didates, the  slave-party  would  have  one  more  than  two- 


HANSEN   AND   SHAW.  205 

thirds;  but  by  deciding  in  favor  of  the  other,  they  would 
lack  one  vote  of  having  that  majority.  These  two  candi- 
dates were  John  Shaw  and  Nicholas  Hansen,  who  claimed 
to  represent  the  county  of  Pike,  which  then  included  all 
the  military  tract  and  all  the  country  north  of  the  Illinois 
River,  to  the  northern  limits  of  the  State.  The  leaders  of 
the  slave-party  were  anxious  to  elect  Jesse  B.  Thomas  to 
the  United  States  Senate.  Hansen  would  vote  for  him, 
but  Shaw  would  not.  Shaw  would  vote  for  the  convention, 
but  Hansen  would  not.  The  party  had  use  for  both  of 
them,  and  they  determined  to  use  them  both,  one  after  the 
other.  For  this  purpose,  they  first  decided  in  favor  of 
Hansen,  admitted  him  to  a  seat,  and  with  his  vote  elected 
their  United  States  senator;  and  then,  toward  the  close  of 
the  session,  with  mere  brute  force,  and  in  the  most  bare- 
faced manner,  they  reconsidered  their  former  vote,  turned 
Hansen  out  of  his  seat,  and  decided  in  favor  of  Shaw,  and 
with  his  vote  carried  their  resolution  for  a  convention."* 

*  In  the  account  Mr.  Flower  has  given  of  the  celebrated  contest  between 
Shaw  and  Hansen,  he  has  simply  followed  the  accepted  historical  version. 
Gov.  Rejmolds  and  Gov.  Ford  are  both  mistaken  when  they  state  that  Han- 
sen was  admitted  to  a  seat  in  the  lower  branch  of  the  Legislature,  in  order  to 
vote  for  Thomas,  for  U.  S.  senator,  and  was  then  put  out  in  order  to  admit 
Shaw,  for  the  purpose  of  having  his  vote  for  the  convention  resolution.  Han- 
sen was  the  sitting-member  whose  seat  was  contested  by  Shaw.  The  contest 
was  settled  in  the  early  part  of  the  session,  and  without  any  reference  what- 
ever either  to  the  senatorial  or  convention  question.  The  House  decided  that 
Hansen  was  entitled  to  his  seat.  It  was  only  at  the  end  of  the  session,  and 
after  Hansen  had  held  his  seat  unchallenged  for  eleven  weeks,  that  he  was 
turned  out,  to  put  Shaw  in  so  by  his  vote  to  carry  the  convention  resolu- 
tion. The  proceeding  was  lawless,  revolutionary,  and  utterly  disgraceful, 
and  contributed  largely  to  the  defeat  of  the  convention  scheme  before  the 
people.  [See  "Sketch  of  Edward  Co>es  and  the  Slavery  Struggle  in  Illinois, 
in  1823-4,  by  E.  B.  Washburne,  Honorary  Member  of  the  Chicago  Histori- 
cal Society."] 


206     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY.     • 

• 

We  had  now  no  other  recourse  than  to  vote  against  a 
convention  or  become  the  accompHces  of  this  base  faction. 
We  thought,  at  that  time,  that  such  a  scene  of  base 
intrigue  was  never  before  exhibited  under  a  representative 
government,  as  prevailed  at  Vandaha  during  that  session. 
Some  of  the  doings  of  other  legislatures,  and  of  Con- 
gpess,  have  enlightened  us  since  that  time,  and  shown  us 
that  men  are  to  be  found  as  unscrupulous  now  as  they 
were  then.  Small  rewards  were  dealt  out  to  small  men. 
Larger  douceurs  were  offered  to  larger  interests.  One 
thing,  very  well  known,  is,  that  the  southerners  offered  to 
the  northerners  their  support  and  votes  in  these  terms: 
"If  you  will  vote  for  our  convention,  we  will  vote  for  your 
canal."  Whether  the  northmen  were  invulnerable,  the 
legislative  record  will  best  show.  So  the  measure  was 
carried  in  the  legislature.* 

Taking  Edwards  County,  on  the  Wabash,  which  threw  a 
decisive  majority  for  no  convention,  following  the  same 
line  of  latitude  westward,  to  where  the  Rev.  Mr.  Peck  of 
Rock  Spring,  I  think  in  St.  Clair  County,  headed  the  no- 
convention  ticket;  then  to  Edwardsville,  where  Gov.  Ninian 
Edwards  did  good  battle  for  freedom,  and  on  to  Alton; 
here  was  presented  the  first  line  of  batteries  against  the 
slavery  -  shock  from  the  south.  After  the  vote  of  the 
legislature,   up   to   the   time   of   election,   the  war   waxed 

*  Mr.  Flower  is  perhaps  not  entirely  accurate  in  this  statement.  At  this 
time  the  canal  cjuestion  could  not  have  cut  much  of  a  figure.  The  first  grant 
of  land,  for  the  construction  of  the  Illinois-and-Michigan  Canal,  was  not  ob- 
tained until  1827.  There  was  then  no  northern  part  of  the  State,  as  we  now 
understand  it.  Sangamon  and  Pike  were  then  the  most  northerly  counties, 
though  there  were  a  few  settlers  in  Fulton.  All  the  counties,  afterward  par- 
ticularly interested  in  the  canal,  were  established  subsequent  to  1822-3. 


birkbeck's  address.  207 

warm.  From  our  Settlement  many  communications  were 
constantly  issuing,  generally  in  reply  to  the  advocates  of 
slavery  from  the  south.  The  discussion  took  every  form. 
The  religious,  the  benevolent,  the  political,  the  expedient 
arguments  were  all  used  by  our  opponents,  and  as  con- 
stantly replied  to  by  us,  principally  by  Mr.  Birkbeck. 
The  native  question  showed  itself  then  as  now.  It  will 
be  in  place  to  give  a  sample  of  the  controversy  in  an 
address  from  our  Settlement  which  appeared  in  the  Illi- 
nois Gazette: 

"An  Address  to  the  Citizens  of  Illinois  for  the  day  of  Elec- 
tion, and  wortiiy  of  their  serious  attention  preparatory 
thereto  : 

"Blessed  beyond  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  in  the 
enjoyment  of  civil  and  political  freedom,  under  a  con- 
stitution which  is  the  admiration  of  the  wise  in  every 
nation  to  which  the  knowledge  of  it  has  extended,  the 
citizens  of  this  great  republic  have  yet  to  deplore  that 
there  exists  within  it  a  system  of  oppression,  greatly 
exceeding  in  its  cruelty  and  injustice  all  other  calamities 
inflicted  by  tyranny  upon  its  victims,  an  inheritance  of 
wretchedness,  extending  from  generation  to  generation. 

"  In  those  sections  of  the  Republic  where  this  system 
prevails,  a  large  proportion  of  the  people  distinguished 
from  the  rest  by  color,  but  alike  susceptible  of  pain  and 
pleasure,  with  minds  capable  of  improvement,  though 
disgraced  by  their  condition,  are  deprived  of  all  rights, 
personal  and  civil,  and  groaning  in  hopeless  servitude. 
The   effect  of  this  evil    upon   the   states,  laboring   under 


208     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUTNY. 

this  curse,  (in  addition  to  the  every- day  misery  of  the 
slaves),  is  to  obstruct  their  improvement  to  an  astonishing 
degree,  especially  by  repressing  population.  According 
to  a  census  made  by  congress  in  1774,  Virginia,  at  that 
period,  contained  650,000  inhabitants.  New  York,  includ- 
ing Vermont,  and  Pennsylvania,  including  Delaware,  con- 
tained together  only  600,000 — that  is  to  say  50,000  less 
than  Virginia  alone.  In  1820,  by  the  last  census.  New 
York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware  contained,  omitting 
fractions,  two  millions  six  hundred  thousand  free  persons; 
having  increased  above  fourfold  in  forty-six  years,  eight 
of  which  were  under  the  pressure  of  a  consuming  war. 
But  these  states  had,  during  this  period,  delivered  them- 
selves from  slavery,  that  still  more  consuming  plague  with 
which  we  are  now  threatened.  Virginia  unhappily  remained 
in  bondage;  and  by  the  census  of  1820,  instead  of  a  popu- 
lation of  two  millions  and  a-half,  which  she  probably  would 
have  attained,  if  free,  had  little  more  than  one  million,  of 
which  four  hundred  and  forty-five  thousand  were  slaves; 
exposing  a  deficiency  arising  from  this  source  in  that  single 
state,  of  two  millions  of  free  persons.  In  the  value  of  land 
and  the  amount  of  manufacturing  and  commercial  capital 
vested  in  public  institutions,  canals,  hospitals,  seminaries 
of  learnincT,  etc.,  the  contrast  is  still  more  remarkable;  a 
tenfold  proportion  in  favor  of  the  Free-states  is  probably 
below  the  truth.  To  this  add  the  number  and  vast  superi- 
ority of  their  towns  and  cities  and  cultivated  farms,  with 
the  industry,  tranquillity,  and  security  of  the  inhabitants. 
Pursue  the  comparison  throughout  the  Union,  and  such 
is    the    lamentable    result;     misery    and    vice,    restraining 


birkbeck's  address  continued.  209 

population  where  slavery  prevails,  and  drying  up  all  the 
sources  of  prosperity. 

"  We  are  assembled  this  day  to  make  our  election  be- 
tween freedom  with  its  blessings,  and  slavery  and  its 
curses  unutterable;  between  good  and  evil.  Indiana,  our 
sister  state,  has  given  us  an  example  of  wisdom  by  an 
overwhelming  majority  against  a  slave-making  conven- 
tion. Ohio,  another  sister  rejoicing  in  her  own  freedom, 
is  exerting  herself  in  the  generous  hope  of  laying  a 
foundation  of  universal  emancipation;  as  appears  by  an 
earnest  appeal  to  the  Union  lately  issued  by  her  legis- 
lature. United  as  we  are  with  these  states  in  a  solemn 
compact  against  the  admission  of  slavery,  let  Illinois 
prove  herself  worthy  of  their  affinity,  and  coming  for- 
ward with  one  consent  on  the  side  of  wisdom  and  virtue, 
let  us  disappoint  the  hopes  of  a  short  -  sighted  party 
among  us,  who  would  sacrifice  our  permanent  interests 
to  their  mistaken  views  of  temporary  advantage.  The 
individual  who  presumes  thus  to  address  you  is  no  poli- 
tician; has  no  objects  at  variance  with  the  general  wel- 
fare; no  ambition  but  to  be  a  friend  of  mankind,  and 
especially  his  brethern  and  fellow-citizens  of  this  State." 

This  address  was  also  published  in  handbill  form, 
and  freely  distributed  previous  to  the  election.  It  was 
the  last  address  from  our  side  previous  to  the  vote;  and 
as  it  has  been  said  to  have  been  attended  with  effect, 
I  have  given  it  the  first  place  here. 

In  June,  a  series  of  letters  signed  "Jonathan  Freeman", 

on  the  free  side,  replied  to  by  "John  Rifle",  appeared  in 

the  Skaivncctozvn  Gazette.     The  following   are   specimens 

of  the  style  and  talent  of  each  writer: 
14 


210     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

JONATHAN   freeman's   LETTER,  NO.   I. 
''To  the  Editor  of  tJic  Illinois  Gazette: 

''Sir — I  am  a  poor  man;  that  is  to  say  I  have  no 
money.  But  I  have  a  house  to  cover  me,  and  the  rest 
of  us,  a  stable  for  my  horses,  and  a  Httle  barn,  on  a 
quarter  of  good  land  paid  up  at  the  land-office,  with  a 
middling  fine  clearing  upon  it  and  a  good  fence.  I  have 
about  thirty  head  of  cattle,  some  of  them  prime,  and  a 
good  chance  of  hogs;  and  by  the  labors  of  my  boys,  we 
make  a  shift  to  get  along.  We  help  our  neighbors,  who 
are  generally  as  poor  as  ourselves; — some  that  are  new- 
comers are  not  so  well  fixed.  They  help  us  in  turn;  and 
as  it  is  the  fashion  to  be  industrious,  I  discover  that  we 
are  all  by  degrees  growing  wealthy,  not  in  money  to  be 
sure,  but  in  truck. 

"There  is  a  great  stir  among  the  land-jobbers  and  poli- 
ticians, to  get  slaves  into  the  country;  because,  as  they 
say,  we  are  in  great  distress;  and  I  have  been  thinking 
how  it  would  act  with  me  and  my  neighbors.  I  read 
your  paper  as  it  comes  out,  but  don't  find  anything  to 
clear  it  up.  First  of  all  you  gave  us  an  address  from  a 
meeting  at  Vandalia  in  praise  of  a  convention ;  next  you 
published  the  protest  of  the  minority  against  the  tricks  of 
the  slave-party;  and  then  you  said  we  had  the  whole 
matter  before  us.  Though  you  seem  to  hang  that  way, 
you  have  not  said  hozu  slavery  is  to  do  good  to  me,  and 
the  like  of  me- — that  is  four  citizens  out  of  five  in  the 
State.  I  have  already  seen  people  from  Kentucky,  and 
some  of  the  neighbors  have  been  traveling  in  that 
country.      They  all    agree    in    one    story,  that    the    Ken- 


JONATHAN    FREEMAN S   LETTER.  211 

tuckians  are  as  bad  off  for  money  as  we,  some  say  worse. 
People  that  have  been  to  New  Orleans  say  it  is  the  same 
all  down  the  river;  no  money,  but  a  power  of  plantations 
to  sell,  if  there  were  any  buyers.  As  money  seems  to  be 
all  we  want,  and  they  want  it  just  as  much  as  we  do,  I 
don't  see  how  those  slave-gentry  are  to  make  it  plenty, 
unless  sending  more  produce  to  New  Orleans  would  raise 
the  price;  as  to  neighbors,  give  me  plain  farmers,  working 
with  their  own  free  hands,  or  the  hands  of  free  workmen. 
Not  great  planters  and  their  negroes;  for  negroes  are 
middling  light-fingered,  and  I  suspect  we  should  have 
to  lock  up  our  cabins  when  we  left  home,  and  if  we  were 
to  leave  our  linen  out  all  night,  we  might  chance  to  miss 
it  in  the  morning.  The  planters  are  great  men,  and  will 
ride  about  mighty  grand,  with  umbrellas  over  their 
heads,  when  I  and  my  boys  are  working  perhaps  bare- 
headed in  the  hot  sun.  Neighbors  indeed  !  they  would 
have  it  all  their  own  way,  and  rule  over  us  like  little 
kings;  we  should  have  to  patrol  round  the  country  to 
keep  their  negroes  under,  instead  of  minding  our  own 
business;  but  if  we  lacked  to  raise  a  building,  or  a  dollar, 
the  d — 1  a  bit  would  they  help  //jr., 

"This  is  what  I  have  been  tliinking,  and  so  I  suspect  we 
all  think,  but  they  who  want  to  sell  out;  and  they  that 
want  to  sell,  will  find  themselves  mistaken  if  they  expect 
the  Kentckians  to  buy  their  improvements,  when  they 
can  get  Congress- land  at  a  dollar  and  a -quarter  an  acre. 
It  is  men  who  come  from  Free-states  with  money  in  their 
pockets,  and  no  workhands  about  them,  that  buy  improve- 
ments. Yours,  Jonathan  Freeman." 


212     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

"JOHN    rifle's"    letter   IN    REPLY   TO   JONATHAN 
freeman's   FIRST    LETTER. 

'<  Sir: — I  have  seen  in  your  paper  of  Saturday  last,  a 
letter  signed  Jonathan  Freeman,  about  which  I  wish  to 
make  a  few  remarks.  This  Freeman  lives  near  the  Wa- 
bash, and  is  a  neighbor  of  mine,  and  from  what  I  know  of 
him,  I  am  certain  there  is  something  not  right  about  this 
letter.  I  know  that  he  could  not  have  wrote  it  himself,  for 
two  reasons ;  first,  the  man  has  not  been  sober  for  three 
months;  and,  second,  he  can't  write.  Freeman  used  to  be 
an  honest,  industrious  man,  until  about  a  year  ago,  when 
he  got  into  the  habit  of  going  to  Albion,  keeping  com- 
pany with  the  English,  and  drinking  beer.  He  has  got  so 
haunted  to  the  place,  that  there  is  no  breaking  him  off; 
and  it  will  be  the  ruin  of  him;  for  beer,  you  know,  has  the 
effect  of  stupefying  and  clouding  \h.i  mind,  as  we  may  see 
by  all  the  English  that  come  over.  Some  chance  ones  are 
peart  enough,  but  in  a  general  way  they  have  what  I  call 
a  beer-foGT  over  them.  If  it  had  not  been  for  this.  Free- 
man  would  never  have  allowed  any  man  to  put  his  name 
to  such  an  instrument  of  writing  as  the  one  in  your  paper. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  English  have  been  cologing 
with  him  on  the  subject  of  the  convention,  taking  advan- 
tage of  him  when  he  was  not  rightly  at  himself,  and  ma}' 
be  some  of  them  wrote  that  piece  for  him;  however,  I 
don't  think  he  ever  knew  anything  about  it. 

"  Now  as  to  the  letter  itself,  let  us  see  whether  it  is  true. 
He  says  in  one  place,  I  discover  that  we  are  all  by  degrees 
growing  rich,  not  in  money  to  be  sure,  but  in  truck.     This 


JOHN    RIFLES   REPLY.  213 

I  do  say  is  not  true.  I  appeal  to  the  farmers  throughout 
the  State,  whether  any  of  them  are  getting  rich,  in  money 
or  truck,  or  anything  else.  They  will  answer — No.  He 
says  there  is  a  great  stir  among  "land-jobbers  and  politi- 
cians to  get  slaves  into  the  country;  "  let  me  ask  who  does 
he  mean  by  land-jobbers  and  politicians.'  Does  he  mean 
the  Legislature.''  If  so,  the  people  will  not  thank  him  for 
libelling  two-thirds  of  their  representatives  as  land-jobbers, 
nor  will  truth  justify  him;  for,  in  fact,  a  large  majority  of 
the  Legislature  were  plain  farmers  like  ourselves.  Perhaps 
he  means  the  people,  and  there  he  is  equally  wrong.  The 
farmers  of  this  country  have  no  right  to  be  called  land- 
jobbers;  whether  they  are  politicians  or  not,  will  be  found 
out  at  next  election,  when,  I  think,  they  will  show  that 
they  will  not  be  fuddled  by  British  beer,  nor  cajoled  out 
of  their  rights  by  British  influence. 

"He  says,  'the  planters  are  great  men,  and  will  ride 
about,  mighty  grand,  with  umbrellas  over  their  heads, 
when  I  and  my  boys  are  working,  perhaps,  bareheaded  in 
the  hot  sun.'  I  now  ask  all  the  Kentuckians  in  this  State 
to  give  evidence  on  this  point.  Do  the  people  of  Ken- 
tucky ride  about,  mighty  grand,  with  umbrellas  over  their 
heads.''  We  have  a  great  many  Kentuckians,  Tennesseeans, 
and  North  Carolinians  in  this  State,  and  we  don't  find  that 
they  are  more  grand  and  proud  than  other  folks.  As  for 
working  bareheaded  in  the  sun,  I  did  not  know  that  it  was 
usual  to  do  that  in  this  country.  They  say  the  poor  devils 
in  the  old  country  have  to  do  it ;  but  there  is  nothing  to 
prevent  their  covering  their  heads  here;  and  if  they  are 
too  lazy  to  do  so,  I  say  let   them  go  bareheaded.     The 


214-    ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

fact  is,  that  the  man  who  wrote  that  letter  for  Freeman, 
has  been  used  to  have  poor  white  folks  for  slaves;  and 
they  want  to  keep  up  the  same  rule  here,  which  God  for- 
bid. If  they  expect  to  introduce  nobility,  taxes,  and 
white  slavery  among  us,  they  will  be  mistaken.  They 
tried  that  before  the  Revolution,  and  much  they  got  by  it. 

"Again,  the  writer  of  this  letter  says  the  negroes  are 
middling  light-fingered,  and  he  gives  this  as  an  objection 
against  their  admission.  This  is  as  much  as  to  say  the 
blacks  are  thieves,  and  therefore  we  will  not  admit  them 
among  us  as  slaves,  and  keep  them  under  control;  but  we 
wall  let  them  in  as  free  people,  and  allow  them  the  chance 
of  stealing  like  gentlemen.  I  am  a  little  surprised  that 
the  objection  to  light-fingered  people  should  come  from 
that  quarter,  for  I  am  told  that  the  people  of  a  certain 
island  over  the  water  are  so  highly  gifted  in  this  way,  that 
they  can  scarcely  keep  their  hands  out  of  each  other's 
pockets;  and  that  they  are  hung  for  it  by  dozens;  but 
perhaps  they  wish  to  keep  the  business  in  their  own  hands 
in  this  country. 

"Mr.  Editor,  I  have  now  done  with  my  neighbor  Free- 
man. I  would  advise  him  to  mind  his  farm,  and  not  be 
writing  letters  to  the  printer.  Or,  if  he  is  so  very  anxious 
to  be  high  up  in  the  papers,  to  get  some  of  his  own  coun- 
trymen to  write  his  documents.  I  do  n't  think  that  any 
good  will  be  done  by  writing,  no  how;  for  the  people  of 
this  country  will  have  their  way,  and  the  majority  will 
govern,  in  spite  of  nabobs,  who  would  make  white  slaves 
of  us.  June  /;,  1823.  JOHN  RiFLE." 


JONATHAN  FREEMAN  S  SECOND  LETTER.     2  I  5 

freeman's  SECOND  LETTER. 
''Sir: — As  you  have  printed  my  homely  letter,  showing 
the  sort  of  neighbors  the  slave-gentlemen  and  their  negroes 
would  be  to  us  plain  Illinois  farmers,  I  send  you  my  sim- 
ple thoughts,  on  what  is  brought  up  by  way  of  excuse,  by 
people  who,  I  believe,  know  better,  though  they  think  that 
such  as  I  do  not.  They  say  that  if  slaves  from  Kentucky 
come  into  Illinois,  there  will  be  as  many  less  in  Ken- 
tucky as  there  will  be  more  here;  so  that  the  number  of 
the  whole  will  not  be  greater  than  if  they  had  stayed  there. 
I  see  the  matter  differently.  When  a  man  moves,  it  is 
because  he  is  uneasy,  and  can't  thrive;  so  he  goes  where 
he  can  do  better;  the  better  people  are  off,  the  faster  they 
will  increase.  Many  people  in  Kentucky  are  deep  in  debt, 
and  have  nothing  left  to  call  their  own  but  slaves.  In  that 
case,  they  can't  carry  on  to  any  good  purpose.  It  goes 
hard  with  such  men's  negroes,  with  bellies  pinched  and 
short  of  clothing,  they  roam  about  by  night,  and  pick  up 
any  thing  they  can  find,  to  cover  their  backs  or  satisfy 
hunger.  This  is  a  great  plague  to  a  neighborhood,  and 
very  hurtful  to  the  slaves.  When  a  gang  of  these  hungry, 
naked  creatures,  that  hardly  keep  up  in  numbers,  owing  to 
their  misery,  move  into  a  country  where  their  master  gets 
good  land  almost  for  nothing,  they  make  plenty  of  corn 
and  pork,  and  breed  two  for  one.  The  neighborhood  they 
left  goes  on  better  without  them,  and  soon  fills  up  their 
room;  so  that  the  slaves  no\v  in  Keutucky  are  just  as 
many  more.  If  Ohio  had  been  a  slave-state,  there  would 
have  been,  at  this  time,  about  two  hundred  thousand  more 
slaves  in  the  world,  and  two  hundred  thousand  fewer  free 


2l6     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

persons.  Which  do  you  think  best,  Mr.  Editor,  to  raise 
freemen  or  slaves.-*  Some  say  we  ought  to  let  them  into 
this  country  from  humanity,  because  they  would  be  better 
off.  This  sounds  mighty  well;  but  it  is  a  hypocritical  ar- 
gument; because  kindness  to  the  negroes  is  not  the  object. 
If  they  want  room,  why  should  they  come  to  Illinois.'' 
There  is  plenty  of  wild  land  in  Kentucky.  All  Missouri 
is  open  to  them,  besides  the  Southern  States.  We  should 
consider,  too,  that  when  we  open  a  country  to  slaves,  we 
close  it  against  freemen,  who  also  want  to  better  their 
situation.  JONATHAN  Freeman." 

"  To  the  Editor  of  the  Illinois  Gazette: 

"Sir: — There  are  some  persons,  who,  after  all  the  pains 
that  have  been  taken  to  open  their  eyes,  are  still  hanker- 
ing for  slavery.  Men,  under  the  dominion  of  passion, 
can  not  hearken  to  reason.  Passion  is  both  deaf  and  blind, 
and  Avarice  is  an  overbearing  passion,  they  acknowledge 
to  be  wrong;  they  are  convinced  that  in  the  end,  it  would 
be  impolitic;  but  urged  by  this  demon,  on  they  rush.  I 
can  compare  them  to  nothing  but  the  herd  of  swine  we 
read  of  in  the  Testament,  which,  'being  possessed  by  a 
devil,  ran  furiously  down  a  steep  place  into  the  sea;'  and 
a  sea  of  trouble  it  would  be,  a  sea  of  troubles  from  which 
they  would  never  be  extricated.  Suppose  twenty  thousand 
negroes  to  be  in  the  State  (no  great  number,  only  about 
two  to  a  family)  then  begins'  a  war  to  which  there  will  be 
neither  truce  nor  treaty;  a  war  of  oppression  on  the  one 
hand,  and  of  revenge  on  the  other,  rendering  both  parties 
wretched  during  its  continuance,  and  to  be  ended,  sooner 


HORRORS   OF   SLAVERY   DEPICTED.  21/ 

or  later,  by  the  destruction  of  one  or  other  of  them.  Look 
at  old  Virginia,  which  in  1774,  was  by  far  the  most  power- 
ful State  in  the  Union,  containing  six  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  inhabitants,  more  by  fifty  thousand  than  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania  together,  including  Vermont,  and 
I  believe  Delaware.  Look  at  her  condition  during  the  last 
war  with  Great  Britain.  She  could  not  contribute  her 
quota  of  militia  to  the  general  defence,  through  fear  of  her 
slave  population.  Look  at  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia. 
Consider  their  constant  alarms;  the  system  of  nightly 
patrols,  which,  horrible  as  it  truly  is,  is  but  the  beginning 
of  sorrows,  something  by  way  of  prevention.  As  yet  the 
power  and  the  show  of  fighting  has  been  all  on  one  side; 
and  so  seems  to  be  the  suffering.  The  white  man  holds 
the  rifle  and  brandishes  the  cow-skin,  while  the  wretched 
victims,  like  the  souls  under  the  altar,  are  crying,  'How 
long,  oh,  Lord,  holy  and  true,  doest  thou  not  judge  and 
avenge  our  blood.'''  But  is  the  suffering  all  on  one  side.-* 
How  fares  it  with  the  trembling  females  when  their  hus- 
bands and  fathers  are  out,  on  this  hateful  but  necessary 
duty.-*  Do  you  think  they  sleep,  and  if  they  do  what  are 
their  dreams.'*  When  they  have  gathered  up  every  tool 
which  might  be  converted  into  a  weapon  of  destruction, 
and  barricaded  their  houses,  and  laid  themselves  in  their 
beds  with  their  little  ones  around  them.  How  fare  they  ? 
The  midnight  torch  and  the  club,  and  the  spirit  of  ven- 
geance are  abroad  and  awake,  and  do  you  think  they 
repose  in  tranquility.^ 

"Such,   my   fellow- citizens,   advocates  of  this   accursed 
system,    is    the   inheritance   you   would    provide   for   your 


2l8     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

posterity!  I  pray  you  to  count  the  cost  before  you  make 
the' purchase.  What  I  faintly  describe  to  you  is  a  very 
small  part  of  the  misery  you  would  bring  on  yourselves 
and  your  children;  these  are  pains  of  precaution,  merely; 
all  this  and  more  must  be  endured,  to  put  off  the  evil 
day  which,  sooner  or  later,  will  surely  arrive.  Besides 
this,  on  which  would  depend  your  very  existence,  there 
would  be  on  every  plantation  a  perpetual  conflict  between 
the  eagerness  of  the  master  and  the  apathy  of  the  slave; 
the  simplest  work  must  be  carried  on  by  violence  and 
terror. 

"The  white  man,  even  the  w^hite  woman  (odious  to  con- 
template), must  be  ready  to  apply  the  lash;  and  there 
would  be  an  incessant  war  of  plunder,  in  which  the  whites 
would  have  to  act  on  the  defensive.  Every  thing  that 
can  be  secured,  must  be  under  lock.  Your  clothing  and 
provisions  and  choice  fruit  and  poultry;  you  might  watch 
them,  but  it  would  be  in  vain.  One  thief  in  a  neighbor- 
hood is  a  sufficient  nuisance,  but  then  there  would  be  a 
hundred^  If  mischief  to  your  property,  by  theft,  would 
be  increased  a  hundred  fold,  so  would  danger  from  fire; 
not  through  negligence  only,  but  through  design.  What 
precautions  are  found  necessary  in  slave-states  against 
this  devouring  calamity!  Yet  fires  are  continually  occur- 
ring; if  you  ask  how  they  happened,  the  invariable  answer 
is:  'from  the  carelessness  or  the  malice  of  the  negroes.' 
Then,  too,  would  arise  an  overwhelming  flood  of  gross 
immorality,  carrying  all  decency  before  it.  But  I  restrain 
my  pen;  the  catalogue  of  calamities  would  be  endless; 
and   could  all   the  advantages,   which  the  conventionists 


A   DIVINE   DEFENDER   OF   SLAVERY.  219 

most  absurdly  expect,  be  realized  and  weighed  against 
any  one  of  the  evils  which  I  have  enumerated,  they  would 
be  as  a  feather  to  a  millstone.      JONATHAN  FREEMAN." 

A  reverend  divine  enters  the  list,  with  Bible-arguments 
for  slavery;  his  letter,  over  the  signature  W.  K.,  appeared 
in  the  Republican  Advocate;  I  never  learned  his  name  or 
residence.  He  was  the  Parson  Brownlow  of  that  day. 
We  will  give  him  a  hearing,  and  see  how  he  is  handled 
by  Jonathan  Freeman: 

*\To  the  Editor  of  the  Spectator: 

"  Sir: — The  following  article,  with  the  signature  W.  K., 
has  appeared  in  the  Republican  Advocate  and  the  Illinois 
Republican.  As  it  is  an  extraordinary  production,  to  give 
it  a  still  more  general  circulation,  I  request  the  favor  of 
your  inserting  it  in  your  paper,  with  a  reply  to  it  from 
your  ob'd't  serv't,  Jonathan  Freeman." 

"'Several  gentlemen,  who  are  raising  a  great  hue  and 
cry  against  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  this  State, 
appear  to  be  influenced  strongly  by  religious  considera- 
tions and  scruples  of  conscience.  One  would  conclude, 
from  what  they  say  and  write  on  this  subject  (if  we  can 
believe  them  sincere),  that  they  really  suppose  it  contrary 
to  the  spirit  and  precepts  of  our  holy  religion,  to  reduce 
the  black  curled-headed  Africans  to  a  state  of  bondage  to 
white  men,  and  bring  them  into  the  Western  Hemisphere, 
and  compel  some  of  them  to  serve  the  good  Christians  of 
Illinois. 

'"That  it  would   better  the  condition  of  all  Africa  to 
bring  her  unhappy  sable  children  to  the  American  Conti- 


220     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

nent,  no  one,  it  is  presumed,  can  be  found  so  stupid  and 
destitute  of  common  sense  as  to  deny  or,  indeed,  for  one 
moment,  to  hesitate  to  believe.  Therefore,  I  say  nothing 
on  this  head;  and  shall  content  myself  by  referring  the 
religiously-scrupulous  part  of  the  community,  and  espec- 
ially the  preaching  and  exhorting  part  thereof,  to  such 
passages  of  holy  writ  as  I  would  think  ought  to  close 
their  lips,  and  which  are  conceived  to  be  unanswerable,  in 
favor  of  reducing  the  negroes  to  a  state  of  bondage  to  the 
whites,   and  of   introducing  and    treating  them  as  slaves 


among  us. 


"  'The  passages  of  scripture  to  which  I  would  refer,  and 
which  may  be  deemed  conclusive  by  reasonable  and  can- 
did men,  are  to  be  found  in  many  different  parts  of  the 
Bible;  but  it  is  considered  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to 
quote  from  the  25th  chapter  of  Leviticus,  the  44th,  4Sth, 
and  46th  verses:  "  Both  thy  bondmen  and  thy  bondmaids 
which  thou  shalt  have,  shall  be  of  the  heathen  that  are 
round  about  you,  and  of  them  shall  ye  buy  bondmen  and 
bondmaids.  Moreover,  the  children  of  the  strangers  that 
do  sojourn  among  you,  of  them  shall  you  buy,  and  of  their 
families,  which  are  with  you,  which  they  beget  in  your 
land,  and  they  shall  be  your  possession;  they  shall  be  your 
bondmen  forever."  From  these  passages,  we  see  very 
plainly  that  the  Israelites  were  permitted  to  make  slaves 
of  the  heathen  that  were  around  them.  It  is  very  evident 
that  the  African  negroes  are  to  be  considered  as  "strangers" 
and  "heathen"  to  us  Christians,  who  stand  in  the  place  and 
footsteps  of  the  ancient  Jews,  God's  chosen  people;  and 
whatever  was  lawful  for  them  to  do,  is  lawful  for  us  also. 


JONATHAN    FREEMAN    ANSWERS   HIM.  221 

"  *  I  call  upon  the  teachers  of  the  Christian  religion,  and 
the  expounders  of  the  sacred  book,  which  contains  its  pre- 
cepts; likewise  the  cunning  and  crafty  opposers  of  a  con- 
vention,  for  the  purpose  of  so  amending  our  constitution, 
that  we  may  legally  enjoy  the  blessings  of  slavery,  to 
explain  away,  if  they  can,  the  plain  and  obvious  meaning 
of  those  passages  which  I  have  transcribed.         W.  K.'  " 

To  our  reverend  brother,  if  we  yield  to  him  nothing  else, 
we  must  thank  him  for  his  candor.  He  at  least  wishes, 
through  the  medium  of  a  convention,  so  to  amend  the 
constitution,  that  we  may  legally  enjoy  the  blessings  of 
slavery.  He  goes  the  whole  hog;  and  for  that  I  rather 
like  him,  in  comparison  with  that  hypocritical,  fast-and- 
loose  crew,  who,  while  working  and  pleading  for  a  con- 
vention, denied  that  the  object  was  to  introduce  slavery. 
But  I  leave  him  to  Jonathan  Freeman: 

"  To  W.  K.,  Reverend  Sir: — I  am  one  of  those  who  are 
strongly  influenced  by  religious  considerations  and  scruples 
of  conscience  in  opposition  to  slavery;  being  quite  certain 
that  it  is  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  our  holy  religion  to 
reduce  any  human  being  to  a  state  of  bondage,  excepting 
as  a  punishment  for  crimes.  I  have  attentively  considered 
the  passages  you  have  quoted,  and  I  learn  from  them  that 
the  laws  of  Moses  permitted  the  Hebrews,  according  to 
the  custom  of  those  barbarous  ages,  to  buy  bondmen  and 
bondmaids,  of  the  heathen  round  about  them;  but  I  do 
not  discover  that  they  were  permitted  to  make  them 
slaves.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  evident  from  all  collateral 
passages,  that  the  persons  who   might   become  bondmen 


220      ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

ncnt,  no  one,  it  is  presumed,  can  be  found  so  stupid  and 
destitute  of  common  sense  as  to  deny  or,  indeed,  for  one 
moment,  to  hesitate  to  believe.  Therefore,  I  say  nothing 
on  tiiis  head;  and  shall  content  myself  by  referring  the 
religiously-scrupulous  part  of  the  community,  and  espec- 
ially the  preaching  and  exhorting  part  thereof,  to  such 
passages  of  holy  writ  as  I  would  think  ought  to  close 
their  lips,  and  which  are  conceived  to  be  unanswerable,  in 
favor  of  reducing  the  negroes  to  a  state  of  bondage  to  the 
whites,  and  of  introducing  and  treating  them  as  slaves 
among  us. 

"  'The  passages  of  scripture  to  which  I  would  refer,  and 
which  may  be  deemed  conclusive  by  reasonable  and  can- 
did men,  are  to  be  found  in  many  different  parts  of  the 
Bible;  but  it  is  considered  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to 
quote  from  the  25th  chapter  of  Leviticus,  the  44th,  45th, 
and  46th  verses:  "Both  thy  bondmen  and  thy  bondmaids 
which  thou  shalt  have,  shall  be  of  the  heathen  that  are 
round  about  you,  and  of  them  shall  ye  buy  bondmen  and 
bondmaids.  Moreover,  the  children  of  the  strangers  that 
do  sojourn  among  you,  of  them  shall  you  buy,  and  of  their 
families,  which  are  with  you,  which  they  beget  in  your 
land,  and  they  shall  be  your  possession;  they  shall  be  your 
bondmen  forever."  From  these  passages,  we  see  very 
plainly  that  the  Israelites  were  permitted  to  make  slaves 
of  the  heathen  that  were  around  them.  It  is  very  evident 
that  the  African  negroes  are  to  be  considered  as  "strangers" 
and  "heathen"  to  us  Christians,  who  stand  in  the  place  and 
footsteps  of  the  ancient  Jews,  God's  chosen  people;  and 
whatever  was  lawful  for  them  to  do,  is  lawful  for  us  also. 


JONATHAN   FREEMAN    ANSWERS   HIM.  221 

"  '  I  call  upon  the  teachers  of  the  Christian  religion,  and 
the  expounders  of  the  sacred  book,  which  contains  its  pre- 
cepts; likewise  the  cunning  and  crafty  opposers  of  a  con- 
vention, for  the  purpose  of  so  amending  our  constitution, 
that  we  may  legally  enjoy  the  blessings  of  slavery,  to 
explain  away,  if  they  can,  the  plain  and  obvious  meaning 
of  those  passages  which  I  have  transcribed.         W.  K.'  " 

To  our  reverend  brother,  if  we  yield  to  him  nothing  else, 
we  must  thank  him  for  his  candor.  He  at  least  wishes, 
through  the  medium  of  a  convention,  so  to  amend  the 
constitution,  that  we  may  legally  enjoy  the  blessings  of 
slavery.  He  goes  the  whole  hog;  and  for  that  I  rather 
like  him,  in  comparison  with  that  hypocritical,  fast-and- 
loose  crew,  who,  while  working  and  pleading  for  a  con- 
vention, denied  that  the  object  was  to  introduce  slavery. 
But  I  leave  him  to  Jonathan  Freeman: 

"  To  W.  K.,  Reverend  Sir: — I  am  one  of  those  who  are 
strongly  influenced  by  religious  considerations  and  scruples 
of  conscience  in  opposition  to  slavery;  being  quite  certain 
that  it  is  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  our  holy  religion  to 
reduce  any  human  being  to  a  state  of  bondage,  excepting 
as  a  punishment  for  crimes.  I  have  attentively  considered 
the  passages  you  have  quoted,  and  I  learn  from  them  that 
the  laws  of  Moses  permitted  the  Hebrews,  according  to 
the  custom  of  those  barbarous  ages,  to  buy  bondmen  and 
bondmaids,  of  the  heathen  round  about  them;  but  I  do 
not  discover  that  they  were  permitted  to  make  them 
slaves.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  evident  from  all  collateral 
passages,  that  the  persons  who   might   become  bondmen 


224     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

from  the  pen  of  the  editor  of  the  Illinois  Gazette,  which 
precedes  the  two  letters  that  immediately  follow  it,  will 
show  the  tone  held  by  the  conventionists  at  that  time  : 

"  The  writers  of  the  following  communications  take  two 
things  for  granted,  which  we  deem  very  questionable,  if 
'not  positive  mistakes  :  First,  that  the  main  object  of  the 
convention  was  to  introduce  slavery  ;  and  secondly,  that 
the  saline  can  b^  worked  with  more  profit  to  the  State  by 
free  laborers  than  hired  slaves. 

"We  do  not  believe  that  the  introduction  of  absolute 
slavery  is  the  object  of  the  friends  of  a  convention,  speak- 
ing of  them  as  a  body ;  though  there  are  individuals, 
doubtless,  who  would  desire  it.  We  answer  for  ourselves, 
that  it  is  not  ours,  nor  ever  was  ;  and  we  believe  we  may 
say  as  much  for  all  the  most  influential  and  intelligent 
persons  of  that  party  throughout  the  State.  As  to  work- 
ine  the  saline,  we  are  clear  that  it  can  not  be  done  either 
to  private  or  public  advantage  by  free  laborers.  Indeed  it 
is  a  primary  object  of  the  friends  of  a  convention  in  this 
quarter,  to  procure  a  prolongation  of  the  privilege  of  hiring 
slaves  at  those  works.  Such  is  the  conviction  of  the 
greater  advantages  to  be  derived  from  that  species  of 
labor,  in  the  present  paucity  of  our  population." 

"  '  To  the  Editor'  of  the  Illinois  Intelligencer: 

"  'Sir: — In  the  Illinois  Intelligencer  oi  December  6,  is  an 
account  of  a  meeting  of  certain  individuals  styling  them- 
selves 'Friends  of  a  Convention,'  held  at  Vandalia,  of  which 
Gen.  Willis  Hargravc  was  the  chairman. 

'  "As  it  is  thoroughly  understood  by  every  citizen  who  is 


"ONE   OF   THE   PEOPLE"   SPEAKS.  225 

capable  of  distinguishing  his  right  hand  from  his  left,  that 
the  main  object  of  the  convention  of  which  these  gentle- 
men profess  to  be  the  friends,  is  the  introduction  of  slavery. 
I  can  not  refrain  from  expressing  my  extreme  regret  that 
the  General  should  have  allowed  himself  to  be  placed  in 
such  a  situation.  I  should  have  thought  that  the  lament- 
able condition  of  the  Gallatin  Saline  (of  which  I  understand 
he  is  the  official  inspector)  might  have  induced  him  to  raise 
a  warnine  voice  so  loud  and  so  earnest  as  to  be  heard 
through  every  county  and  every  plantation  in  the  State, 
proclaiming  to  his  fellow-citizens  that  their  hard-earned 
dollars  expended  in  salt  have  passed  away  into  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee  for  the  hire  of  negroes  ;  not  leaving  a  suf- 
ficiency to  pay  even  the  rent  in  our  depreciated  currency, 
at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  cents  to  the  dollar  !  He  should 
have  laid  before  us  this  distressing  fact;  and  have  reminded 
us,  that  if  free  laborers  had  been  employed  instead  of  slaves, 
the  amount  of  their  wages,  at  least,  would  have  remained 
in  circulation  among  us,  and  would  have  prevented  this 
valuable  national  estate  from  being  an  enormous  drain  upon 
our  specie,  instead  of  being  a  source  of  profit  to  the  public. 

"  One  OF  THE  People.'  " 

"  '  To  the  Editor  of  the  Illinois  Gazette: 

"  ^Sir: — At  a  time  when  avarice  and  folly  are  combining 
on  the  one  hand  for  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  our 
State,  and  virtue  with  good  sense,  her  never-failing  coad- 
jutor, on  the  other,  are  combining  to  oppose  it,  it  is  amus- 
ing to  observe  the  artifices  of  the  slave-party,  by  which 
they  endeavor  to  impose  on  the  public,  by  mustering  and 

15 


226     ENGLISH   SETTLEMl£NT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

mancEuvrino;  under  the  colors  of  the  friends  of  freedom. 
In  the  Illinois  Intelligencer  of  November  i,  and  in  several 
other  papers,  is  an  account  of  an  affair  of  this  kind.  Cer- 
tain citizens  of  Fox-River  Township,  in  White  County,  to 
the  number  of  about  sixty  persons,  being  assembled  for  the 
purpose  of  electing  county  -  commissioners,  formed  them- 
selves into  a  society  in  support  of  a  convention,  which 
everybody  knows  is  designed  to  bring  about  the  toleration 
of  slavery  ;  but,  instead  of  proceeding  like  men,  who  have 
no  cause  to  conceal  their  intentions,  they  drew  up  the  fol- 
lowing resolutions  : 

"(These  resolutions  were  published  in  this  paper  of  the 
8th;  lack  of  room  compels  us  to  refer  to  them  in  this  way.). 

"'Here  the  first  resolution,  unexceptionable  in  principle, 
is  held  up  as  a  standard.  Governments  are  instituted  to 
secure  the  rights  and  insure  the  happiness  of  the  governed, 
etc.;  under  these  colors  they  march  to  the  second  resolu- 
tion, by  which  they  bind  themselves  to  use  every  honest 
exertion  to  induce  their  neighbors  and  fellow-citizens  to 
act  with  them  in  bringing  about  a  change  of  government ; 
and  by  which  projected  change  a  portion  of  the  governed, 
instead  of  having  their  rights  secured  to  them  according  to 
the  tenor  of  the  first  resolution,  are  to  be  held,  with  their 
children  after  them,  in  perpetual  bondage.  They  then  pro- 
ceed to  appoint  a  committee  to  carry  into  effect,  not  the 
resolutions  including  the  first,  but  the  resolution  meaning 
the  second;  thus,  laying  down  the  colors  of  freedom,  they 
take  up  the  black  banner  and  cut  the  figure  which  all  peo- 
ple do  when  they  are  ashamed  of  their  own  transactions. 

"'The  majority  of  my  fellow-citizens  of  White  County 


LETTER  OF  JONATHAN  FREEMAN.        22/ 

will,  I  trust,  put  a  just  value  on  their  rights  and  their  inde- 
pendence, and  faithfully  adhere  to  the  first  resolution. 

"  'People  talk  of  the  right  of  slave-owners  to  hold  their 
fellow-man  in  bondage;  but  there  is  a  great  difference  be- 
tween power  and  right.  There  may  be  a  power  but  not  a 
right  to  do  wrong.  The  State  of  New  York  had  the  power 
to  practise  slavery,  but  never  the  right  to  do  it.  The  people 
of  that  and  other  free-states,  to  their  honor  and  incalculable 
advantage,  have  relinquished  that  noxious  power,  and  they 
can  not  resume  it.  The  states  which  have  abolished  sla- 
very have  abolished  it  forever.  Nothing  short  of  a  dissolu- 
tion of  all  government  can  introduce  slavery  among  a  free 
people.  The  end  of  government  is  the  intellectual  and 
moral,  as  well  as  the  corporal  good  of  the  whole.  Should 
slavery  be  among  their  customs,  the  legitimate  object  of 
government  would  then  be  to  mitigate  the  evil  during  its 
existence,  and  abolish  it  as  soon  as  practicable.  Such  as 
been  the  course  of  the  states  alluded  to.  They  have 
extirpated  the  accursed  thing.  We  have  bound  ourselves, 
by  a  solemn  compact,  not  to  plant  it;  and  on  this  express 
condition,  we  have  been  admitted  to  all  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  original  States.  The  criminal  power, 
which  the  advocates  of  slavery  are  coveting,  and  would 
sanctify  under  the  name  of  a  right,  was  not  one  of  those 
rights  and  privileges.  Slavery  was  a  calamity  under 
which  they  were  afflicted,  and  from  which  we  are  happily 
exempted  by  our  constitution ;  and  this  exemption  is  one 
of  the  most  precious  of  its  gifts. 

"  'Jonathan  Freeman.'  " 


228     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

"  To  the  Editor  of  tJic  SJiaivnectown  Gazette: 

^^Sir: — I  beg  leave  to  submit  to  you  and  the  other 
gentlemen  of  the  legal  profession  at  Shawneetown  the 
following  queries,  arising  from  facts,  which  I  shall  premise. 

"The  property  of  the  soil  of  this  State,  being  vested  in 
the  General  Government,  offices  were  opened  for  the  sale 
of  land,  and  certain  rights  and  immunities  granted  to 
purchasers. 

'■^  Query  i. — May  not  such  purchasers  require  of  the 
United  States  protection  and  support  in  the  enjoyment 
of  those  rights  and  immunities?  When  they  attained  the 
number  of  sixty  thousand,  or  at  an  earlier  period  with  the 
consent  of  Congress,  they  had  a  right  to  form  a  govern- 
ment under  certain  definitions  and  provisions,  viz.:  that  it 
should  be  a  republic;  that  it  should  have  no  hereditary 
nobility,  no  church  establishment;  and  no  slavery,  except 
as  a  punishment  for  crimes. 

'' Q.  2. — If  the  majority  had  prefered  a  monarchy,  would 
not  the  United  States  have  upheld  the  minority  in  its 
right  to  form  a  republic? 

"■Q.  J. — If  the  majority  had  attempted  to  create  heredi- 
tary rank,  or  an  established  church,  would  not  the  United 
States  have  supported  the  minority  in  their  rejection  of 
those  usurpations? 

"  ^.  ^. — If  the  majority  had  attempted  to  introduce 
slavery,  would  not  the  United  States  have  been  bound 
to  enable  the  minority  effectually  to  resist  it?  There  was, 
however,  no  need  of  the  interposition  of  Congress  in 
resrard  to  these  matters!  The  constitution  of  Illinois  was 
framed  in  consistency  with  these  stipulations;  and  under 


LETTER  OF  JONATHAN  FREEMAN.        229 

those  express  conditions  and  limitations,  the  people  of  the 
territory  were  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  State. 

"  Q.  5. — Did  that  contract  cease  to  be  binding  the 
moment  after  it  was  executed  .-* 

"If  your  honorable  fraternity  shall  see  good  to  enlighten 
your  unlearned  fellow- citizens  on  these  points,  I  may  be 
encouraged  to  propose  a  {qw  after  queries  for  your  so- 
lution, Jonathan  Freeman." 

In  reply  to  some  sneering  remarks,  as  to  the  absurdity 
of  comparing  the  capacity  of  a  curly-headed  black  fellow 
with  white  men,  the  following  pertinent  piece  of  history 
was  given: 

"  To  the  Editor  of  the  Shaivneetoivn  Ga:;ctte: 

''Sir: — Before  the  admission  of  slaves  into  this  State,  I 
would  counsel  the  Solomons  in  our  legislature  to  devise 
some  plan  to  prevent  any  from  being  bought  or  stolen,  or 
in  any  manner  procured  or  brought  among  us,  who  are 
able  to  read  or  write;  as  it  is  to  be  feared  they  might  soon 
be  an  overmatch  for  us  in  those  exercises.  A  negro 
fellow,  called  Du  Vasty,  in  St.  Domingo,  took  it  in  his 
head  to  write  a  book  in  answer  to  Mr.  Mazere,  a  white 
gentleman,  who  had  written  in  defence  of  the  slave-trade. 
In  this  answer  the  black  breaks  out  in  the  following 
language: 

"'I  have  discovered,'  says  he,  'such  absurdities,  false- 
hoods, and  equivocations  in  this  work,'  meaning  the  book 
of  the  white  gentleman,  'that  I  have  been  twenty  times 
on  the  point  of  throwing  down  my  pen,  and  abandoning 
him  and  his  brethren  to  the  profound  contempt  they  have 


230     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

inspired.  I  am  a  man!  I  feel  it  in  all  my  being:  I  pos- 
sess thought,  reason,  strength.  I  have  every  feeling  of  • 
my  sublime  existence.  I  am  humbled  at  being  obliged  to 
reply  to  such  childish  sophisms,  and  to  prove  to  men  like 
myself  that  I  am  their  fellow.  My  soul,  indignant  at  this 
excess  of  falsehood  and  folly,  leads  me  in  my  turn  to 
doubt  if  they  are  men  who  dare  to  discuss  a  question  no 
less  impious  and  immoral  than  absurd.' 

"You  may  perceive  from  this  specimen,  Mr.  Editor,  that 
the  Carolinians  and  Georgians  have  some  reason  for  pro- 
hibiting the  instruction  of  their  slaves.     Yours, 

"Jonathan  Freeman." 

"Sir: — As  the  following  six  queries  may  be  answered 
in  seven  words,  and  require  but  little  legal  knowledge, 
though  your  indulgence,  I  propose  them  to  our  fellow- 
citizens  in  general.  I  would  request  them  to  answer  in-  . 
genuously,  to  the  satisfaction  of  their  own  conscience,  each 
query  severally  and  in  succession  as  they  read  it,  and  then 
to  make  up  their  minds  about  voting  for  or  against  a  con- 
vention designed  to  bring  in  slavery. 

"  Query  i.  What  was  the  original  title  of  the  white  man 
to  the  negro  .^  Q.  2.  The  power  of  enforcing  it  excepted, 
has  not  the  negro  as  good  a  title  to  the  white  man.? 
Q.  J.  Can  the  transfer  of  a  bad  title  improve  or  confirm 
it.?  Q.  4.  Is  not  the  receiver  of  stolen  goods,  knowing 
them  to  be  such,  as  bad  as  the  thief;  and  should  they  pass 
from  one  such  receiver  to  another,  and  so  on,  is  not  the 
last  receiver  as  bad  as  the  first.?  Q.  j.  Which  is  the 
greatest  villain,  a  horse-thief  or  a  man-thief;  a  receiver  of 


LETTER  OF  JONATHAN  FREEMAN.        23 1 

stolen  horses  or  a  receiver  of  stolen  men?  Q.  6.  If  the 
majority  of  the  legislature  should  happen  to  be  of  the 
latter  class,  and  they  were  to  pass  a  law,  authorizing  their 
constituents  to  steal  men,  women,  and  children,  or  to  re- 
ceive them,  knowing  them  to  be  stolen,  would  such  a  law 
justify  the  villainy?  JONATHAN  FREEMAN." 

"  To  tJie  Editor  of  the  Illinois  Gazette: 

'^  Sir:  The  complaining  tone,  which  has  become  so  com- 
mon among  us,  is  no  doubt  occasioned  by  inconveniences, 
which  we  pretty  generally  feel  as  wants,  which  we  are  at 
present  unable  to  satisfy. 

"  People  who  suffer  are  apt  to  complain,  and  I  suppose 
there  is  relief  in  it;  but  sometimes  we  indulge  this  pro- 
pensity unreasonably,  and  spend  time  and  strength  in 
grumbling,  which  well  applied  might  set  all  to  rights. 
This,  I  am  inclined  to  believe,  is  our  present  case.  Here 
we  are,  about  sixty  thousand  persons,  old  and  young, 
possessing  the  portions  of  our  choice  in  a  rich  and  beauti- 
ful country,  lately  a  wilderness,  but  under  well-directed 
industry  fast  becoming  a  fertile  field.  We  labor  for  our- 
selves and  our  children,  and  have  nothing  to  pay  but  for 
our  benefit. 

"Our  operations  commence  in  the  creation  of  real  wealth. 
We  build  houses,  and  they  are  'our  own ;  make  enclosures 
which  produce  more  than  enough  for  our  subsistence. 
We  have  planted  orchards,  and  are  beginning  to  gather 
their  fruit.  We  have  store  of  cattle  of  all  descriptions 
(sheep  excepted)  beyond  our  wants.  We  have  also  made 
ourselves  clothing;  but  in  this  particular,  our  industry  may 


232     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY, 

have  been  somewhat  deficient.  Things  have  arrived  at 
this  point  without  much  money;  for  the  Httle  we  brought 
A\ith  us  has  been  mostly  expended  in  paying  for  our  land, 
and  in  purchasing  articles  of  the  first  necessity,  which  are 
not  to  be  found  in  a  new  country.  There  are,  however, 
other  articles  necessary  for  our  comfort,  if  not  for  our  sub- 
sislance,  which  can  not  be  procured  without  money;  and 
here  lies  our  difficulty.  The  times  are  somewhat  'out  of 
joint'.  The  old  world  does  not,  as  heretofore,  take  off 
the  surplus  produce  of  the  new.  The  plain  articles  of 
food  yield,  at  New  Orleans,  which  is  our  emporium,  little 
more  than  the  cost  of  freight,  and  afford  us  a  very  scanty 
supply  of  foreign  productions  of  luxury  and  comfort. 

"  What  is  our  reasonable  course  under  these  circum- 
stances.'' To  direct  a  portion  of  our  industry  to  the  supply 
of  our  ozun  zvauts,  instead  of  raising  umnarketable produce. 
Let  us  examine  into  the  resources  of  our  country,  and 
avail  ourselves  of  them.  Have  we  no  iron -ore  in  our 
State,  no  clay  suitable  for  pottery.''  At  all  events,  we 
should  grow  the  materials  of  our  clothing,  as  we  have  cer- 
tainly skill  to  manufacture  them;  and  the  skill  wJiicJi  is 
not  exerted,  is  dormant  capital,  lost  to  the  public. 

"No  country  ever  acquired  lasting  wealth  and  prosperity 
by  exporting  raw  produce.  It  will  be  a  fortunate  event, 
wliich  we  arc  now  deploring  as  a  calamity,  should  it  put 
us  in  the  way  of  working  up,  and  consuming  our  own  pro- 
duce. We  shall  then  be  as  independent  as  any  people 
ought  to  be.  Foreign  commerce  is  not  to  be  viewed  as 
the  source  of  wealth,  but  of  convenience.  We  must  give 
an  equivalent  for  all  we  receive.  .  The  balance  of  trade  is 


,     LETTER   OF  JONATHAN    FREEMAN.  233 

held  by  the  even  hand  of  mutual  interest;  both  parties  are 
served  by  it.  The  merchants  in  each  country  may  grow 
rich,  but  it  is  at  the  expense  of  their  home  customers. 

"The  real  wealth  of  a  country  is  of  its  own  creation; 
consisting  in  its  arts  and  industry,  its  productive  lands,  its 
buildings,  its  roads,  canals,  and  public  institutions;  and  in 
the  means  of  enjoyment  possessed  by  the  people.  Illinois 
might  be  both  rich  and  happy,  though  walled  in  from  the 
rest  of  the  world;  certainly  neither  so  speedily,  nor  to  an 
equal  degree,  as  through  a  liberal  communication  with 
other  nations.  Let  us  have  patience  and  perseverance, 
and  all  will  be  well.  We  generally  left  our  ancient  abodes 
under  the  pressure  or  apprehension  of  distress ;  some  from 
Avant  or  fear  of  it;  some  from  the  galling  of  political 
oppression.  Now  let  us  be  thankful.  Want  is  far  from 
us,  and  we  are  free.  Just  escaped  from  the  gripe  of  pov- 
erty, or  the  more  horrible  gripe  of  tyranny,  it  becomes  us 
not  to  murmur  because  we  have  nothing  better  than  liberty 
and  plenty.  Shall  we  complain  because  our  corn-cribs  are 
overflowing  and  our  harvests  too  abundant.''  If  any  of  us 
choose  to  exchange  four  or  even  eight  bushels  of  corn  for 
a  pound  of  tea,  we  have  good  right  so  to  do ;  or  if  we 
choose  to  give  a  hundred  and  twenty  bushels  of  corn  for  a 
coat  of  British  broadcloth,  so  be  it,  but  no  grumbling ;  the 
better  way  might  be  to  do  at  present  without  the  tea,  and 
forever  without  a  coat  of  foreign  fabric,  'to  wear  our  old 
coats,'  as  Dr.  Franklin  said  on  another  occasion,  'until  we 
can  make  new  ones;'  but  this  will  never  take  place  if  we 
tolerate  slavery;  for  that  would  encourage  extravagance, 
cripple  industry,  keep  us  poor,  and, blight  all  our -pros- 
pects. Jonathan  Freeman." 


234     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

"  To  the  Editor  of  the  Shaiuneetown  Gazette: 

*" Sir: — I  would  freely  commit  the  question,  which  now 
agitates  and  disgraces  this  State,  to  a  congress  of  wise  and 
conscientious  men,  taken  from  a  slave-holding  state,  and 
consent  to  abide  by  their  decision,  confined  to  this  simple 
question:  'Is  slavery,  considered  as  affecting  the  enslaving 
party,  a  blessing  or  a  curse? ' 

"There  is  not  at  this  moment  a  civilized  nation  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  which  has  tasted  the  bitterness  of  slavery 
(and  it  is  impossible  to  drink  of  that  cup  without  tasting 
its  bitterness)  that  does  not  loathe  it  as  a  nauseous  and 
poisonous  draught.  The  old  slave -states  of  this  Republic 
are  writhing  under  it  as  an  evil  for  which  they  can  find  no 
remedy.  The  entire  Republic,  of  which  we  form  an  incon- 
siderable section,  as  a  body,  detests  it.  Europe,  though 
enveloped  by  political  thraldom,  declares  even  in  the  con- 
gress of  Verona  her  abhorrence  of  the  system ;  and  Great 
Britain  in  parliament,  urged  by  petitions  from  the  people, 
has  determined  on  measures  leading  to  the  emancipation 
of  the  slaves  in  her  colonies.  Whence  then  is  the  infatua- 
tion of  the  citizens  of  this  State,  who  would  beckon  into 
their  land  of  freedom  this  outcast  abomination  of  the  whole 
earth .''  Are  there  men  among  us  who  can  exult  in  the 
hope  that  a  majority  of  their  fellow-citizens  will  be  so  base 
as  to  hold  up  their  hands  for  slavery.^  Such  men,  sir,  are 
unworthy  the  blessings  of  this  free  constitution;  they  are 
unworthy  of  the  age  they  live  in.  Unworthy,  as  I  trust  it 
will  appear,  of  that  community  to  whom  they  presume  to 
look  for  support  in  their  iniquitous  attempt  to  enslave  their 
country. 


JONATHAN   FREEMAN  S   LETTERS   CONTINUED.      235 

"Liberators  of  mankind  are  embalmed  in  history;  we 
dwell  upon  their  names  with  filial  fondness.  But  those 
who  in  this  age  of  intelligence  can  employ  their  talents 
and  their  influence  to  rivet  the  fetters  which  avarice  in 
times  of  ignorance  has  fixed  upon  their  fellows,  what  shall 
we  say  of  them.''  Language  is  unequal  to  the  expression 
of  our  indignation  and  our  pity! 

"I  believe,  sir,  and  in  that  belief  I  do  exult,  that  the 
number  of  those  unfortunate  persons  is  very  limited,  and 
diminishes  continually;  and  that  the  day  of  trial  will  find 
the  citizens  of  Illinois  worthy  of  their  station.  Other  na- 
tions are  strugglifig  manfully  against  inveterate  institutions 
of  political  bondage  from  which  we  are  free;  one  and  all 
we  pray  for  their  success;  and  blessed  as  we  are  in  the 
enjoyment  of  those  equal  rights  (with  which  our  Creator 
has  endowed  all  mankind)  and  with  equal  laws  founded  on 
those  rights,  we  are  not  going  to  introduce  into  the  very 

bosom  of  our  families  the  most   cruel  and  detestable  op- 
pression. 

"Our  forefathers  of  many  generations  would  have  sacri- 
ficed themselves  to  secure  these  privileges  for  their  off- 
spring. Let  us  then  with  grateful  hearts,  and  hands  of 
industry,  improve  the  blessings  we  enjoy,  and  in  due 
season  we  shall  abound  in  wealth  and  comforts  honestly 
acquired.  JONATHAN   FREEMAN." 

"  To  the  Editor  of  the  Illinois  Gazette: 

^^ Sir: — Early  in  last  year,  about  the  time  that  the  con- 
vention question  was  forced  through  our  legislature,  the 
following  resolutions  passed  the  British  House  of  Com- 
mons without  a  dissenting  voice: 


236     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

'"That  it  is  expedient  to  adopt  effectual  and  decisive 
measures  for  ameliorating  the  condition  of  the  slave-popu- 
lation in  his  majesty's  colonies.' 

'"That  through  a  determined  and  persevering,  but  at  the 
same  time  a  judicious  and  temperate  enforcement  of  such 
measures,  this  House  looks  forward  to  a  progressive  im- 
provement in  the  character  of  the  slave-population,  such  as 
may  prepare  them  for  a  participation  in  those  civil  rights 
and  privileges  which  are  enjoyed  by  other  classes  of  his 
majesty's  subjects.' 

"'That  this  House  is  anxious  for  the  accomplishment  of 
this  purpose  at  the  earliest  period  that  shall  be  compatible 
with  the  well-being  of  the  slaves  themselves,  with  the  safety 
of  the  colonics,  and  with  a  fair  and  equitable  consideration 
of  the  interests  of  private  property.' 

"On  the  15th  of  March  of  the  present  year,  Mr.  Can- 
ning, the  prime-minister  of  that  Government,  stated  to  the 
House  the  measures  which  had  been  adopted  in  pursuance 
of  the  above  resolutions ;  from  which  statement  I  have 
extracted  some  particulars  for  the  entertainment  and  in- 
struction of  our  fellow-citizens. 

"It  is  proper  in  the  first  place  to  observe  that  the  British 
colonies  in  the  West  Indies  are  of  two  classes;  the  one  class 
is  governed  by  authorities  formed  after  the  model  of  the 
mother-country;  in  those  every  proposition  for  the  amel- 
ioration of  the  condition  of  the  slaves  is  uniformly  and 
violently  rejected.  In  the  other  class  of  colonies,  the 
Government  of  Great  Britain  rules  without  the  intervention 
of  legislative  assemblies,  and  in  these  it  was  determined  to 
establish  by  law  such  regulations  as  seemed  best  adapted 


LETTER   CONTINUED.  237 

to  their  present  condition;  and,  accordingly,  in  the  island 
of  Trinidad,  the  following  provisions  are  made  compulsory 
on  the  Government: 

'"I.  The  chastisement  of  females  by  the  whip,  to  be 
entirely  abolished.' 

'"2.  The  whip  as  a  stimulus  to  labor  to  be  abolished, 
even  for  males;  and  only  retained  as  an  instrument  of 
punishment  for  crimes,  and  then  under  strict  regulations.' 

'"3.  Institutions  of  religious  worship  are  provided  for 
the  slaves,  and  the  encouragement  of  marriage  strictly 
enjoined.' 

'"4.  It  is  strictly  provided  that  in  all  future  sales  (for,  as 
Mr.  Canning  observed,  the  sale  of  slaves  could  not  yet  be 
prevented)  the  husband  and  wife,  the  reputed  husband  and 
the  reputed  wife,  and  the  parent  and  the  child,  shall  not  in 
any  case  be  separated  from  one  another.' 

'"5.  To  secure  to  the  slaves  by  law  whatever  property 
has  been  secured  as  theirs  by  custom;  and  this  law  in- 
cludes the  right  of  bequest.' 

'"6.  Those  who  shall  take  charge  of  the  religious  in- 
struction of  the  negroes  shall  have  the  power,  and  it  will  be 
their  duty,  to  certify  the  fitness  of  the  slave  to  give  testi- 
mony in  a  court  of  justice;  not  in  any  individual  case,  nor 
at  the  moment  the  testimony  may  be  required;  but  gener- 
ally, that  such  a  slave  has  made  such  advances  under 
instruction  as  to  be  conversant  with  the  nature  of  evidence; 
and  of  these  "a  register  shall  be  kept,  and  they  shall  be 
considered  in  that  respect  as  a  privileged  class.' 

'"7.  It  is  also  prescribed,  in  addition  to  other  provisions 
favorable  to  manumission,  that  every  negro  shall  be  allowed 


238      ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

to  purchase  his  own  freedom  or  the  freedom  of  his  child.'" 
"Thus  has  a  process  begun,  under  the  authority  of 
government,  by  which  it  is  hoped  that  such  an  improve- 
ment in  the  moral  condition  of  the  slaves  may  be  effected, 
as  will,  besides  the  abatement  of  their  present  miseries,  fit 
them  for  the  enjoyment  of  their  freedom. 

"  In  addition  to  the  above  regulations,  that  government 
has,  during  the  last  year,  formed  a  treaty  with  our  own,  on 
the  subject  of  the  slave-trade,  which  is  declared  by  both 
governments  to  be  piracy,  and  punishable  by  death.  By 
this  treaty,  the  mutual  right  of  search  is  admitted ;  and 
thus  the  natives  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  will 
in  future  co-operate  for  the  purpose  of  extinguishing  this 
infamous  traffic. 

"In  melancholy  contrast  to  the  enlightened  spirit  of  the 
present  age,  the  retrogade  movement  attempted  by  the 
advocates  of  slavery  in  this  State  will  be  viewed  by  future 
generations,  even  of  our  own  posterity,  with  astonishment 
and  disgust,  as  it  is  viewed  at  this  time  by  other  nations. 
'What!'  they  will  exclaim  (when  they  read  the  history  of 
our  present  contest),  'would  these  diffusers  of  misery  and 
crime  have  conveyed  the  pestilence  into  the  bosom  of  every 
family.-*  Was  no  spot  within  our  extended  and  still  extend- 
ing limits  of  the  American  Republic,  to  be  exempt  from 
this  defilement?  Already  has  three-fifths  of  the  million  of 
square  miles,  which  had  there  been  appropriated,  become 
a  field  of  oppression,  b}'  the  toleration  of  slavery;  and  were 
they  not  yet  sated?  Over  every  district  and  over  every 
plantation  must  resound  the  lash  of  the  slave-driver,  and 
the  yells  of  its  victims,  to  satisfy  their  unnatural,  their  in- 


JONATHAN   freeman's   LETTERS   CONTINUED.      239 

fernal  appetite?     Yet  they  called  themselves  Republicans; 
with  liberty  on  their  tongues,  and  tyranny  in  their  hearts; 
one  hand  displaying  the  declaration  of  equal  rights,  the 
other  clenching  the  code  of  slavery  with  a  monstrous  avid- 
ity!    In  evidence  of  the  demoralizing  influence  of  slavery 
on  the  society  which  tolerates  it,  (this  they  could  do  with 
unblushing  effrontery,  whilst  other  and  minor  abominations 
skulked  in  corners  and  hid  themselves  from  the  public  eye,) 
this   the   master-vice  of  depraved    humanity   could   stalk 
abroad  in  open  day;  could  raise  its  head  in  the  Senate; 
seat  itself  on  the  bench;  and  dared  even  to  approach  the 
altars  of  benevolence  and  peace.'     Such  will  be  the  impres- 
sions of  impartial  posterity.     But  it  is  with  heartfelt  satis- 
faction I  perceive  this  scene  of  gloom  and  discouragement 
receding  from  our  horizon ;  with  confidence  I  can  declare 
to  my  fellow -citizens,  that  the  good  cause,  the  cause  of 
humanity  and  of  our  true  interests,  is  prevailing  in  almost 
every  part  of  the  State.     The  first  Monday  in  August  will, 
I  trust,  shine  brightly  upon  us,  and  find  us  a  wiser  and  a 
better  people  than  our  enemies  have  hoped,  and  that  some 
of  our  friends  have  been  ready  to  fear.    We  must  not,  how- 
ever, allow  our  zeal  to  relax  under  these  favorable  expec- 
tations, but  continue  to  exert  ourselves  in  promoting  right 
feelings  and  sound  principles,  so  as  to  meet  the  question  on 
that  day,  not  only  safely  but  triumphantly,  and  not  with  the 
advantage  of  a  few  votes  only,  but  with  an  overwhelming 
majority.       Many  estimable  citizens  of   other   states   are 
waiting  with  anxiety  for  a  happy  issue  of  this  controversy. 
Upward  of  a  hundred  families,  substantial  farmers  of  one 
neighborhood    in    Pennsylvania,  whose    names    could    be 


240     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

given,  if  necessary,  are  intending  to  move  into  this  State 
when  the  question  of  slavery  shall  be  set  at  rest  by  a  right- 
eous decision.  If  we  vote  faithfully  against  a  convention, 
that  question,  as  regards  the  State  of  Illinois,  will  be  settled 
forever;  and  then,  I  firmly  believe,  true  prosperity  will 
begin  to  beam  upon  us,  and  the  blessings  of  heaven  will 
reward  our  honest  industry.  We  shall  reteive  a  great 
accession  of  population  and  of  capital;  manufactures  of 
various  kinds  will  spring  up  among  us;  and  a  home-market 
for  produce  will  gradually  infuse  new  life  into  all  our 
undertakings.  JONATHAN   FREEMAN." 

"  To  the  Editor  of  the  Spectator. 

"5/;-;_In  addition  to  the  strictures  on  the  letter  signed 
W.  K.,  I  would  impress  on  the  minds  of  my  fellow-citizens, 
that  many  people  read  the  history  of  the  Hebrew  nation 
in  the  Old  Testament  to  great  disadvantage;  because 
they  read  it  without  reflecting  that  their  institutions  were 
adapted  to  the  'hardness  of  their  hearts,'  knd  to  the  state 
of  society  in  those  early  times  of  ignorance  and  barbarism. 

"But  the  beneficient  Creator  has  implanted  in  man  a  prin- 
ciple of  improvement,  as  is  expressed  by  the  figurative  dec- 
laration :  '  I  will  take  away  their  hearts  of  stone,  and  give 
them  hearts  of  flesh.'  The  object  of  the  .teachings  of  Jesus 
Christ  was  to  promote  this  happy  revolution,  not  only  in 
the  Jews,  but  in  all  nations.  He,  the  great  and  good  inter- 
preter, has  by  one  simple  passage  applied  the  law  to  every 
man's  understanding  and  conscience: — 'Whatsoever  ye 
would  that  men  should  do  unto  you,  do  ye  even  so  unto 
them,  for  this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets.'— Math.  chap. 


JONATHAN   freeman's    LETTERS   CONTINUED.      24I 

vii.  12.     Consequently,  whatever  we  find  in  tire  institutions 
imputed  to  Moses,  or  in  the  customs  of  the  Israelites,  which 
may  appear  inconsistent  with  this  fundamental  principle  of 
morality  and  justice,  we  may  be  assured   is  not  the  law  to 
us,  or  proper  for  our  imitation.     Those  who  cling  to  the 
harsh  and  the  barbarous  in  the  Jewish  history,  neglecting 
justice,  mercy,  and  truth,  are  not  Christians,  whatever  may 
be  their  pretentions.      Nor  are  they  as  the  reverend  W.  K. 
presumes,  'God's  chosen  people.'     The  chosen  of  God  are 
those  'of  every  nation,  kindred,  tongue,  and  people,  who 
work  righteousness,'  who  observe  the  law  written  in  the 
heart  in  these  simple  characters: — The  love  of  God  and 
the  love  of  our  neighbor.     This  is  the   Universal  church 
in  which  eastern  Seba  bends  with  the  native  of  the  far- 
thest West,  and   Ethiopia   bows   her  head   and  worships. 
Returning  to  the  letter  of  W.  K.,  let  us  admit  (what  no 
one,  excepting  this  reverend  person,  pretends  to  believe) 
that  the  progenitors  of  our   American  negroes  were  the 
lawful  prey  of  the  Europeans,  who  tore  them  from  their 
country.     Now,  as  the  present  race  is  known  by  tradition 
only,  of  their  African  origin,  I  ask  what  was  the  kind  and 
degree  of  guilt  in  their  forefathers,  which  could  transmit 
this  dreadful  doom  of  servitude  through  succeeding  genera- 
tions.^   The  slave-holder  thinks  nothing  of  this  matter,  but 
retains  the  infant  in  bondage  under  no  pretense  of  right, 
but  by  force  merely,  reduced  into  a  form  of  law  by  the 
slave-holders  themselves.     If  there  be  a  crime  to  be  visited 
by  punishment,  like  that  which  the  negroes  are  now  suffer- 
ing, tJiis  is  that  cn7ne;^a.nd  should  power,  in  the  course  of 
events,  change  hands,  and  be  transferred  from  the  white 
16 


242     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

man  to  the  negro,  I  pray  God,  that  the  negro  may  be  a 
Christian,  with  a  creed  directly  the  reverse  of  that  pro- 
fessed by  W.  K..  Jonathan  Freeman." 

"  By  Authority. 
"Whereas  certain  evil-disposed  persons  did,  in  the  month 
of  December  last,  assemble  at  Vandalia,  and  enter  into  a 
combination  to  control  the  freedom  of  election,  enjoyed  of 
right  by  the  good  people  of  this  State,  in  order  to  exclude 
from  public  service,  all  citizens  who  are  not  of  the  conven- 
tion-party, however  suitable  and  well  qualified  they  may 
be  to  promote  the  public  interest;  and  for  that  purpose 
did  presume  to  appoint  certain  secret  committees  of  five 
of  the  said  party  in  every  county,  who  were  to  appoint 
subcommittees  of  three  for  every  precinct,  for  the  carry- 
ing; into  effect  of  the  scheme  as  above  mentioned.  And 
whereas,  the  first  Monday  in  August  next  is  the  day 
appointed  for  the  trial  of  the  authors  and  abettors  of  said 
conspiracy  against  the  sovereignty  of  the  people.  All  good 
citizens  are  hereby  required,  for  the  furtherance  of  political 
justice,  to  find  out  and  detect,  as  far  as  in  them  lies,  these 
county  and  toiviiship  coimnittcc-nieii,  and  to  publish  their 
proceedings,  in  such  manner  as  shall  most  effectually  bring 
to  light  their  underhand  transactions.  All  newspapers, 
which  are  friendly  to  freedom  and  independence,  are 
desired  to  give  this  notice  a  conspicuous  place. 

"Pro  bono  Publico." 

Toward  the  close  of  the  wordy  warfare,  the  feelings  of 
each  party  became  somewhat  embittered.  The  letters  of 
"American us,"  to  which  the  two  following  replies,  signed  by 


MR'.   BIRKBECK'S   reply   TO  AMERICANUS.  243 

M.  Birkbeck,  were  given,  are  not  at  hand;  but  the  nature 
of  their  contents  may  be  judged  of  by  the  repHes  : 

"Wanboro',  January  6,  1822. 
"  To  the  Editor  of  the  Illinois  Gazette: 

"The  writer  in  your  paper  of  January  3d,  signed  'Ameri- 
canus,'  is  not  to  be  depended  on  for  the  truth  of  his  state- 
ments. His  arguments  will  speak  for  themselves; -as  will 
his  candor  and  politeness. 

"In  publishing  my  sentiments  on  the  important  ques- 
tion of  a  convention,  I  perform  a  duty,  as  I  conceive,  to 
myself,  my  family,  and  my  adopted  country.  In  subscrib- 
ing my  name  to  those  sentiments,  I  give  my  fellow-citizens 
the  means  of  judging  of  their  sincerity;  by  the  stake  I 
hold  in  the  general  welfare,  which  is  equal  to  that  of 
^ Kvi\Q.x\Q^.Xiw'~>^  wlioever  lie  may  be.  Having  been  an  inhab- 
itant of  the  Territory  before  it  became  a  state,  I  am  as  old 
a  citizen  as  any  in  it;  therefore,  no  man  has  a  right  to  stig- 
matize me  as  a  foreigner;  and  no  man  of  honor,  under  a 
fictitious  signature,  would  call  his  neighbor  a  'foreign  in- 
cendiary.' 

"He  represents  me  as  a  Quaker,  whether  by  way  of 
compliment  or  reproach  is  immaterial ;  because  it  is  not 
the  fact;  nor  do  I  appear  in  the  garb  and  character  of  that 
sect.  But  what  bearing  has  this  on  the  question.''  I 
object  to  slavery,  not  as  a  Quaker,  but  as  a  man,  and  an 
American  citizen. 

"  His  account  of  the  proceedings  at  Vandalia  is  of  the 
same  stamp,  with  his  personal  civilities — a  tissue  of  absurd 
deductions  from  erroneous  statements.    The  'many  jocular 


244     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

proposals'  he  alludes  to,  such  as  'if  you  ivill  support  the 
resolution  for  calling  a  convention,  I  zuill  support  the  law 
for  cutting  the  canal,'  and  the  jocular  proceeding  of  burn- 
ing in  effigy  the  opponents  of  a  convention,  and  the  jocu- 
lar yell  of  '  slavery  or  death,'  were  unseemly  methods  of 
conducting  the  business  of  legislation,  on  behalf  of  a  free 
people,  who  may  say,  like  the  frogs  in  the  fable,  'It  may 
be  sport  to  you,  but  it  is  death  to  us.'  Poor  frogs  as  they 
deem  us!  I  trust  we  shall  not  allow  them  to  finish  the 
game.  M.  BiRKBECK." 

''For  t/w  Intelligencer. 

"To  'Americanus',  Sir: — Under  a  fictitious  signature, 
you  have  presumed  to  stigmatize  me,  your  fellow-citizen 
with  equal  standing  as  yourself  as  regards  this  State,  with 
the  odious  appellation  of  'foreign  incendiary  and  exile.' 
This  you  have  done  to  inflame  the  public  mind  against  m}- 
personal  character,  and  to  divert  it  from  the  arguments  I 
have  adduced  against  the  ruinous  schemes  of  your  party.  It 
would  have  been  more  manly  to  have  attempted,  at  least,  to 
refute  those  arguments.  You  call  yourself  'Americanus'. 
An  American,  a  true  American,  declares,  in  the  face  of 
the  world,  'that  all  men  are  created  equal,  and  endowed 
with  unalienable  rights  of  liberty,'  and  will  'pledge  his  life, 
his  fortune,  and  his  sacred  honor,'  in  support  of  this  'self- 
evident  truth.'  This,  sir,  is  my  principle,  and  these  are 
my  pledges;  and  shall  you,  who  are  an  advocate  for  sla- 
very, call  me  a  foreigner.'' 

"An  'exile,'  too,  }'ou  are  pleased  to  style  me.  Unless 
you  chance  to  be  of  the  few  among  us  who  were  born  in 


REPLY   CONTINUED.  245 

Illinois,  you  are  also  an  exile  from  the  land  of  your  nativity. 
Whether  this  be  to  either  of  us  a  matter  of  disgrace  or 
otherwise,  will  depend  on  the  causes  of  our  expatriation. 
Come  forward,  sir,  in  your  own  name,  and  state  those 
causes;  let  us  know  your  standing,  with  the  occasion  and 
circumstances  of  your  removal.  I  will  then  do  the  like; 
and  the  public  may  decide  how  far  you  are  entitled  to 
reproach  vie,  as  an  exile. 

"You  represent  me  as  deficient  in  due  returns  for  polite- 
ness received.  In  what,  sir,  have  I  been  wanting  on  that 
score,  in  regard  to  yourself  or  any  other,  to  justify  'the 
imputation  that  I  am  void  of  gratitude  and  every  virtue.^ 
In  making  a  solemn  appeal  to  my  fellow-citizens  against 
measures  and  principles  pregnant  with  calamity,  I  have 
performed  a  duty  to  my  adopted  country;  and  \  subscribe 
my  name,  that  they  might  judge  of  my  sincerity  from  the 
stake  I  hold,  in  common  with  themselves,  in  the  prosperity 
of  the  State.  You  have  availed  yourself  of  this,  to  direct 
your  attacks  against  my  character;  thus  betraying  the 
weakness  of  your  cause.  The  falsehood  of  your  state- 
ment respecting  the  proceedings  of  the  conventionists,  has 
been  exposed  by  others,  which  relieves  me  from  that  task, 
and  yourself  from  farther  notice.  M.  BiRKBECK. 

"  Wanborough,  Feb.  18,  182^." 

These  are  specimens  of  the  many  communications  on 
this  subject  from  our  Settlement;  and  I  believe  there  is  no 
record  of  any  pro-slavery  document  from  our  Settlement 
or  County. 

The  day  of  election  came;  and  thus  stood  our  vote  for 
congressmen  and  convention: 


246     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 
•  Election,  August  2,  1824. 

Albion.     Ball-Hill  Prairie.     Total. 
207  280  487 


r-      ^  (  Cook, 

For  Congress:  \  ^^. 


(  Bond,    -     -    89  14  103=384 

No  Convention,   -     -     -     -     I53  237  390 

Convention,       -----  I35  54  189=201 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  vote  of  our  Settlement  was  more 
nearly  divided  than  might  have  been  supposed.  This  may 
be  accounted  for,  in  part,  from  the  larger  number  of  poor 
Southern-settlers  in  the  western  precinct,  who  were  acted 
upon  by  the  clerk  of  the  court,  Jesse  B.  Browne,  and  the 
sheriff,  Henry  J.  Mills,  both  pro-slavery  men. 

The  slavery  committees  were  active  and  unscrupulous  in 
their  endeavors  to  obtain  a  majority  in  our  precinct.  They 
were  in  the  streets  and  in  the  grog-shops  electioneering 
with  the  greatest  blackguards  in  the  county.  We  were 
not  sufficiently  alive  to  the  weight  of  this  species  of  influ- 
ence. Our  mode  of  operation  was  different;  we  spoke  our 
sentiments  freely  and  gave  them  publicity  through  the 
press.  And  there  we  let  the  matter  rest.  Whatever  influ- 
ence our  opinions  might  have  was  felt  more  at  a  distance 
than  at  home.  Cook,  the  congressman,  received  384  votes 
majority;  and  the  no-convention  ticket  201.  The  elec- 
tion was  conducted  without  violence,  although  each  party 
went  into  it  with  feelings  fully  charged  with  political  and 
personal  hostility.  The*  backwoodsmen  were  told  to  vote 
against  the  damned  British,  who  fought  with  the  Indians 
against  them  during  the  war,  and  were  no  better  than  they. 
We — that  is  a  few  of  us— that  took  a  deep  interest  and  an 
active  part  in  the  contest,  looked  on   our  opponents    as 


MR.  BIRKBECK  APPOINTED  SECRETARY-OF-STATE.   247 

Tories,  traitors  to  the  liberties  of  their  own  country,  and 
enemies  to  mankind.  The  pohtical  contest  over,  the 
bitterness  long  remained. 

The  acquaintance  and  friendship  in  England  between 
Mr.  Coles  and  Mr.  Birkbeck  induced  Mr.  Coles  to  appoint 
Mr.  Birkbeck  his  secretary -of- state.  A  better  appoint- 
ment could  not  have  been  made.  The  office,  before  his 
appointment,  was  in  a  state  of  great  disorder  and  confu- 
sion; during  his  brief  career  in  office  it  was  reduced  to 
perfect  order  and  arrangement.  Governor  Duncan  said  to 
a  friend  of  mine:  'T  came  to  Vandalia  with  every  prejudice 
against  Mr.  Birkbeck  as  secretary- of-state.  But  when  I 
entered  the  office  and  saw  the  order  and  arrangement, 
especially  when  contrasted  with  the  previous  confusion,  my 
opinion  was  completely  changed."  From  what  has  been 
seen  of  the  legislature,  and  the  one  object  that  the  slave- 
party  had  in  view,  it  is  quite  apparent  that  on  no  condition 
would  they  endure  Mr.  Birkbeck  as  secretary-of-state. 

Mr.  Coles  has  been  censured  for  abandoning  Mr.  Birk- 
beck too  hastily;  but  the  two  after-nominations  that  he 
made,  rejected  also  by  the  senate  as  soon  as  made,  shows 
clearly  that  they  had  selected  their  man,  and  would  have 
no  other.  Their  after-conduct  showed  them  to  be  perfectly 
unscrupulous  in  attaining  their  end.  Considering  the 
circumstances  of  menace  and  intimidation  by  which  he 
was  surrounded — an  infuriated  mob  led  on  by  two  Demo- 
cratic Judges,  yelling  and  vociferating  under  his  windows — 
■"convention  or  death" — his  position  was  embarassing.  At 
Edwardsville,  whilst  he  was  there  a  short  time  before  the 
assembling    of    the    legislature,    the    same    means    were 


248     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

resorted  to,  with  the  additional  insult  of  burning  and 
hangincT  him  in  effigy.  Governor  Coles,  I  think,  should 
receive  due  credit  for  maintaining  as  well  as  he  did  the 
side  of  freedom,  when  surrounded  by  insult,  opposition, 
and  threatened  assassination,  rather  than  censure  for  par- 
tially yielding,  in  a  doubtful  point  of  constitutional  power 
under  his  difficult  and  dangerous  position. 

To  show  that  I  have  in  no  way  exaggerated  the  nature 
or  degree  of  opposition  exhibited  against  Governor  Coles, 
the  following  letter  from  Governor  Coles  to  Mr.  Birkbeck 
will  show: 

"Vandall\,  January  gth,  182^. 

''Dear  Sir: — I  had  the  pleasure  to  receive,  in  due  course 
of  mail,  your  letter  of  the  sixth  ult.,  together  with  six  of 
your  pamphlets  which  you  were  so  good  as  to  send  me,  for 
which  I  return  you  my  thanks.  I  had  previously  seen 
republished  in  a  newspaper  your  pamphlet,  and  had  read 
it  with  great  pleasure.  I  could  not  but  wish  that  every 
conventionist  in  the  State  had  it,  and  was  compelled  to 
read  it  with  attention.  Our  society  at  Edwardsville  in- 
tends having  another  large  edition  of  it  printed,  for  the 
purpose  of  having  it  extensively  circulated.  I  took  the 
liberty  of  sending  one  or  two  of  your  pamphlets  to  some 
distant  and  particular  friends,  who  take  a  deep  interest  in 
the  slave-question  in  this  State.  By  the  by,  should  not 
the  review  of  your  pamphlet,  which  appeared  first  in  the 
Illinois  Gazette,  and  since  republished  in  all  of  the  con- 
vention papers  of  the  State,  be  noticed.'  It  is  very 
ingeniously  written;  but  what  more  particularly  requires 
correction   are   the    fabrications  and   misrepresentation  of 


GOV.   coles'   letter   to    MR.   BIRKBECK.       249 

facts.  One  or  two  of  these  were  hastily  noticed  and  sent 
to  be  inserted  last  week  in  the  paper  published  here;  but 
no  paper  has  since  issued  from  the  press. 

"During  the  sitting  of  the  courts,  and  the  sale  of  the 
lands  of  non-residents   for  taxes,  we  had    a  considerable 
number  of  persons  assembled  from  all  parts  of  the  State, 
and  a  pretty  good  opportunity  was  afforded  of  collecting 
the  public  sentiment  in  relation  to  the  great  question  that 
is  now  convulsing  the  State.     The  friends  of  a  convention 
pretend  to  be  pleased;  but  it  was  very  apparent  they  were 
not;    and   the   more   honest  and   liberal  among  them  ac- 
knowledged that  they  thought  their  prospect  bad.     Our 
friends,  on  the  other  hand,  were  much   pleased,  and  ren- 
dered much  more  sanguine  of  success  from  the  information 
they  received.      The    friends    of  slavery  were    caucusing 
nearly  every  night,  and  made  many  arrangements  for  their 
electioneering  campaign.     Among  others,  it  is  said,  they 
have  appointed  five  persons  in  each  county,  with  a  request 
that   these   five   appoint   three    deputies  in   each   electoral 
precinct,  for  the  purpose  of  diffusing  their  doctrines,  em- 
bodying their  forces,  and  acting  with  the  greatest  concert 
and  effect.     This  is  well  calculated  to  bring  their  strength 
to  bear  in  the  best  possible  manner,  and  should  as  far  as 
possible  be  counteracted.     When  bad  men  conspire,  good 
men  should  be  watchful.      The   friends  of   a  convention 
appear  to  be  more  and  more  bitter  and  virulent  in  their 
enmity  to  me,  and  seem  determined  not  only  to  injure  my 
standing  with  the  people,  but  to  break  down  my  pecuniary 
resources. 
"A  suit  has  been  lately  instituted  at  Edwardsville  against 


250     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

me  for  the  recovery  of  the  sum  of  two  hundred  dollars  for 
each  negro  emancipated  by  me  and  brought  to  this  State. 
The  suit  has  been  brought  under  a  law  pased  on  the  30th 
of    March,    18 19,  which  was   not  printed   or  promulgated 
until   the   October  following.      In   the   meantime,   that  is 
about  the  first  week  in  May,  my  negroes  emigrated  to  and 
settled  in  this  State.     What  is  truly  farcical  in  this  suit  is, 
that  a  poor  worthless  fellow  who  has  no  property  and  of 
course  pays  no  taxes,  has  been  selected  to  institute  it,  from 
the  fear  he  has  of  being  taxed   to  support  the  negroes  I 
emancipated;  when   they,  who  are  all  young  and  healthy, 
are  so  prosperous  as  to  possess  comfortable  livings,  and 
some  of  them  pay  as  much  as  four  dollars  a  year  tax  on 
their  property.      I   should,  indeed,  my  friend,  be  unfortu- 
nate, were  I  now  compelled  to  pay  two  hundred  dollars  for 
each  of  my  negroes,  big  and  little,  dead  and  living,  (for  the 
suit  goes  to  this,)  after  the  sacrifices   I  have  made  and  the 
eff"orts  to  befriend   and   enable  them  to   live  comfortably. 
For  I  not  only  emancipated  all  my  negroes,  which  amount- 
ed  to  one-third   of    the  property  bequeathed   me  by  my 
father,  but  I  removed  them  out  here  at  an  expense  of  be- 
tween five  and  six  hundred  dollars,  and   then  gave  each 
head  of  a  family  and  all  those  who  had  passed  the  age  of 
twenty-four,  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  each,  and 
exerted  myself  to  prevail  on  them  to  hold  to  an  honest 
and  industrious  and  correct  course.     This  they  have  done 
in  a  remarkable  degree;  so  much  so,  with  all  the  preju- 
dices against  free  negroes,  there  never  has   been  the  least 
ground  for  a  charge  or  censure  against  any  one  of  them. 
And  now,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  to  be  sued  for  what  I 


GOV.  coles'  letter  continued.  251 

thought  to  be  generous  and  praiseworthy  conduct,  creates 
strange  feeHngs;  which,  however,  cease  to  give  me  perso- 
nal mortification,  when  I  reflect  on  the  character  and 
motives  of  those  who  have  instituted  the  suit. 

"Just  about  the  time  this  suit  was  instituted  I  had  the 
misfortune  to  lose  by  fire  two-thirds  of  all  the  buildings 
and  enclosures  on  my  farm,  together  with  about  two  hund- 
red apple-trees  and  many  peach-trees,  many  of  each  kind 
large  enough  to  bear  fruit.  And,  soon  after,  the  State- 
house  having  been  consumed  by  fire,  a  project  was  set  on 
foot  to  rebuild  it  by  subscription.  Luckily,  to  the  plan  and 
arrangements,  I  declined  subscribing,  and  proposed  others 
which  I  thought  would  be  more  for  the  interest  of  the 
State,  of  the  country,  and  the  town,  and  which  it  is  now, 
by  the  way,  generally  admitted  to  have  been  the  best. 

"This,  however,  was  immediately  laid  hold  of  by  some  of 
the  factious  conventionists,  who,  being  aware  that  the  loss 
of  the  State-house  would  operate  to  the  injury  of  their 
favorite  measure,  and  being  anxious  to  display  great  solici- 
tude for  the  interests  of  the  people  here,  and  that  too  as 
much  as  possible  at  the  expense  of  the  anti-conventionists, 
busied  themselves  in  misrepresenting  my  measures  and 
motives  for  not  subscribing  my  name  to  their  paper,  and, 
with  the  aid  of  large  portions  of  whisky,  contrived  to 
get  up  a  real  Vandalia  mob,  who  vented  their  spleen 
against  me  in  the  most  noisy  and  riotous  manner  nearly  all 
night  for  my  opposition  to  a  convention,  and  for  my  refusal, 
as  they  termed  it,  to  rebuild  the  State-house. 

"All  these,  and  other  instances  of  defamation  and  perse- 
cution, create  in   my  bosom  opposite  feelings,  one  of  pain 


252     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

and  the  other  of  pleasure.  Pain,  to  see  my  fellow-man  so 
ill-natured  and  vindictive,  merely  because  I  am  the  friend 
of  my  species,  and  am  opposed  to  one  portion  oppressing 
another;  pleasure,  that  I  should  be  in  a  situation  that 
enables  me  to  render  service  to  the  just  and  good  cause  in 
which  we  are  engaged;  and,  so  far  from  repining  at  their 
indignities  and  persecutions,  I  am  thankful  to  Providence 
for  placing  me  in  the  van  of  this  eventful  contest,  and 
giving  me  a  temper,  zeal,  and  resolution  which  I  trust  will 
enable  me  to  bear  with  a  proper  fortitude  the  peltings 
which  are  inseparable  from  it.  In  conclusion,  I  pray  you 
to  do  me  the  justice  to  believe  that  no  dread  of  personal 
consequences  will  ever  abate  my  efforts  to  promote  the 
good  of  the  public,  much  less  to  abandon  the  great  funda- 
mental principles  of  civil  and  personal  liberty;  and  to  be 

assured  of  my  sincere  friendship. 

Edward  Coles." 

Having  made  mention  of  the  unscrupulous  conduct  of 
many  southern  Illinoians,  in  their  intrigues  with  the  legis- 
lature at  Vandalia,  candor  obliges  me  to  acknowledge  a 
class  of  honorable  exceptions  in  the  ranks  of  the  conven- 
tionists.  Although  in  favor  of  the  convention,  and  no 
doubt  at  that  time  in  favor  of  the  introduction  of  slavery 
into  the  State,  they  acted  with  their  party  in  a  legitimate 
way,  casting  their  votes  in  favor,  but  participating  in  no 
way  with  the  disgraceful  mobs,  and  more  disgraceful  acts 
with  the  legislature,  led  on  by  the  party  of  whom  Willis 
Hargrave,  Esq.,  was  the  representative.  Among  these 
exceptions  I  record  with  pleasure  the  names  of  our  two 
Judges,  Hon.  Wm.  Wilson,  and  his  associate,  Judge  Thomas 


THE   CLOVEN -FOOT    EXPOSED.  253 

C.  Browne — the  former  of  Carmi,  White  County,  the  latter 
of  Shawneetown,  Gallatin  County.  Their  quiet  and  dig- 
nified conduct  at  Vandalia  was  appreciated  and  remarked 
on  to  me  by  Governor  Coles  as  strikingly  contrasting  with 
the  disgraceful  position  the  other  two  judges  had  assumed 
as  leaders  of  a  drunken  mob,  yelling  "convention  or 
death,"  under  the  windows  of  the  chief-executive  officer  of 
the  State,  to  endeavor  by  intimidation  to  gain  his  compli- 
ance with  their  infamous  conspiracy  against  the  liberties  of 
the  people.  I  lamented  to  differ  with  many  worthy  friends, 
men  of  influence  and  standing,  in  our  part  of  the  country; 
many  of  whom  have  since  with  manly  frankness  acknow- 
ledged their  error. 

.  If  any  doubts  remain  as  to  the  intention  of  the  conven- 
tion, the  following  editorial  remarks  from  the  Shaunicetoiv/i 
Gazette,  June  14,  1823,  must  dispel  them: 
#"The  Convention. 
"The  vote  of  the  'last  Legislature,  recommending  the 
call  of  a  new  convention,  seems  to  have  produced  a  good 
deal  of  excitement  in  the  western  part  of  the  State,  and 
to  have  called  forth  already  some  pretty  warm  discussion. 
In  this  quarter,  as  yet,  we  have  heard  but  little  said  on 
the  subject,  owing  probably  to  the  great  degree  of  una- 
nimity which  prevails  in  favor  of  the  measure.  The 
people  in  this  part  of  the  State  (in  this  and  the  adjoining 
counties  particularly)  have  too  great  an  interest  at  stake 
in  keeping  up  the  manufacture  of  salt  at  the  saline,  to  be 
easily  diverted  from  the  course  they  intend  to  pursue,  by 
making  the  question  turn  upon  the  propriety  or  impropri- 
ety of   introducing   negro  slavery.      They  are  persuaded 


2  54     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

that,  unless  the  time  can  be  enlarged,  during  which  the 
slaves  of  the  neighboring  states  can  be  hired  to  labor  at 
the  furnaces,  the  works,  after  the  year  1824,  must  be 
abandoned,  and  this  main  source  of  revenue  to  the  State 
be  lost;  besides  all  the  advantages  which  they  individu- 
ally derive  from  the  market,  which,  when  in  operation, 
those  works  create.  The  people  in  this  part,  also,  in 
common  with  others  in  all  parts  of  the  State,  desire  an 
amendment  of  the  constitution  in  other  particulars  where- 
in it  has  been  found  defective,  and  many  (we  are  far  frt)m 
concealing  it)  are  in  favor  of  the  introduction  of  slavery, 
either  absolute,  as  it  exists  at  present  in  the  slave-holding 
states,  or  in  a  limited  degree — that  is  to  say,  to  exist  un- 
til the  children  born  after  its  admission  shall  arrive  at  a 
certain  age,  to  be  fixed  by  the  constitution." 

This,  I  think,  tells  the  whole  story.  It  will  be  seen 
during  the  slavery  controversy  that  Mr.  Birkbeck  was 
assailed  as  a  Quaker;  as  by  the  land-speculators  and  the 
enemies  of  the  Settlement  in  the  East  he  had  been  charged 
as  an  infidel.  By  these  gentry,  any  epithet  that  was  un- 
popular it  was  considered  fair  to  throw  at  an  opponent. 

In  one  short  year  from  this  time  Mr.  Birkbeck  was  no 
more.  His  sudden  death  altered  the  intentions  and 
changed  the  destiny  of  his  famil}'.  To  Mr.  William 
McClure  of  New  Harmony,  Mr.  Birkbeck's  library,  con- 
sistinir  of  man\-  hundred  volumes  of  choice  books,  was 
sold.  And,  I  believe,  through  the  influence  and  introduc- 
tion of  Mr.  McClure,  the  two  brothers  Bradford  and 
Charles  Birkbeck  went  to  Mexico  to  trj-  their  fortunes. 
They  have  succeeded — Bradford  as  a  miner  at  Zacatecas; 


DROWNING   OF   MR.  BIRKBECK.  255 

Charles,  four  hundred  miles  distant  from  his  brother,  as  an 
agriculturalist.     Although  the  general  manner  of  Mr.  Birk- 
beck's  death  is  well  known  to  me,  the  minute  circumstances 
attending  that  sad  event  being  recorded  in  the  journal  of 
Mr.  Hall,  I  make  from  it  the  following  extract:  "June  4th, 
1825,  Mr.  Birkbeck  w^ent  to   Harmony,  and  took  a  packet 
of  letters  for  us  to  Mr.  Owen,  who,  being  on  the  eve  of  his 
departure  to  England,  had  kindly  promised  me  to  deliver 
them.     On  his  return,  on  Friday,  happened  the  melancholy 
catastrophe  of  Mr.  Birkbeck's  death,  who  was  drowned  in 
Fox  River  on  his  return  from  Harmony.     On  his  crossing 
at  Fox  River  with  his  third  son,  Bradford,  they  found  the 
flat  on  which  they  expected  to  be  carried  over  had  been 
taken  away.     They  entered   the  water  with    their  horses 
with  the  intention  of   swimming   over.      Bradford's  horse 
plunged  and  threw  him  in  the  water.     Being  a  good  swim- 
mer, he,  although  encumbered  with  a  great-coat,  and  very 
weak  from  recent  illness,  had  nearly  reached  the  opposite 
shore,  when  he  heard   his  father's  voice  calling  for  assist- 
ance;  and  turning  himself  round  he  saw  him  struggling 
in  the  middle  of  the  stream,  and  returned  to  his  assistance. 
Upon  reaching  him  his  father  caught  hold  of  him  and  they 
both  sunk  together.     Upon  rising  he  desired  his  father  to 
take  hold  of  his  coat  in  another  place,  which  he  did,  and 
both  sunk   again.      But   this   time    Bradford   alone   arose. 
Throwing    himself  upon  his  back,  he  floated,  and,  quite 
exhausted,  reached  the  bank;  when,  after  some  time,  his 
cries  brought  a  person  to  his  assistance,  w^ho.  endeavored 
to  recover  the  body  of  his  father.     But  in  vain.     It  was 
not  found  until  the  day  following,  when  it  was  brought  up 


256     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

with  an  umbrella  firmly  grasped  in  his  right  hand.  Mr. 
Birkbeck's  horse  was  also  drowned,  but  Bradford's  got  over 
safely.  The  body  of  Mr.  Birkbeck  was  taken  to  Harmony 
and  there  interred  with  every  mark  of  affection  and  re- 
spect. So  perished  Morris  Birkbeck,  in  the  sixty-second 
year  of  his  age." 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  Mr.  Birkbeck,  by  those 
who  would  square  every  man's  opinion  by  their  own;  the 
inhabitants  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  if  for  nothing  else, 
should  hold  his  memory  in  respect  and  gratitude  for  the 
decided  part  he  took  against  the  introduction  of  slavery,  in 
his  letters  of  "Jonathan  Freeman." 


CHAPTER    XI. 

Interest  in'  the  Convention  Question— Difference  between  Slaves  and 
Servants — Asperity  and  Bitterness  of  the  Contest — The  English 
Spoke  their  Minds  Freely — Estrangement  of  Friends— The  Eng- 
lish Settlement  Persecuted — Outrages  on  Colored  Men — Lawsuit 
in  Albion — Threatening  Letters  from  Kidnapers — Negroes  Kid- 
naped in  Illinois  and  Indiana — The  \Vhite-River  Desperadoes — 
Their  Arrest — Persecution  of  the  Colored  Men  in  the  English 
Settlement — Mr.  Flower  sends  a  Colony  to  Hayti — Account  of 
Difficulties  Encountered — The  Colony  a  Success  in  Hayti — The 
Settlement  the  Object  of  Detraction  and  Misref)resentation — The 
Fate  attending  Discoverers  of  New  Countries  and  Founders  of 
Colonies — Illustrated  in  the  Case  of  William  Penn — Treatment 
of  Mr.  Flower— The  Cause  of  It. 

It  was  no  wonder  that  we  felt  deep  interest  and  mani- 
fested much  excitement  on  the  convention  question.  We 
had  chosen,  as  we  thought,  one  of  the  freest  governments 
in  the  world,  and  one  of  the  freest  states  in  the  Union, 
because  it  was  new  and  free,  for  our  future  residence.  We 
had  brought  to  it  our  property  and  our  families,  and  to  be 
there  betrayed  into  the  jaws  of  Slavery,  excited  our  indig- 
nation and  determined  opposition.  But,  says  the  slave- 
holder, you  bring  your  servants,  why  may  not  we  bring 
ours.^  Because  you  have  no  servants  to  bring;  you  have 
only  slaves.  The  term  servant  designates  one  of  the  parties 
to  a  free  contract.  The  master  has  no  more  legal  power 
over  the  servant,  in  England  or  America,  than  the  servant 
has  over  tlie  master.     But  you  have  stolen  our  term  and 

17 


258     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

applied  it  to  your  slaves.  Servants  in  the  South  there  can 
be  none,  as  long  as  the  poor,  degraded  negro  slave  stands 
in  the  way.  Keep  to  the  proper  designation,  and  call  them 
not  your  servants,  but  your  slaves.  A  slave,  although  in 
human  form,  is  a  being  despoiled  of  all  the  rights  of 
humanity;  purposely  kept  in  ignorance,  driven  by  the  lash, 
or  the  fear  of  it,  to  his  work,  for  which  his  master  gives  him 
no  pay.  An  unfortunate  wretch,  from  whom  all  the  good 
to  which  his  nature  aspires  is  withheld;  steeped  in  all  that 
is  vicious  and  depraved.  This  is  a  slave;  the  man  made 
brute.  To  this  poor,  degraded  being  is  the  slave-holder 
obliged  to  entrust  his  property,  his  domestic  animals,  and 
his  children.  We  desire  not  that  compound  of  society 
found  in  a  slave-state,  a  degenerate  European  aristocracy, 
and  a  full-blooded  African  barbarism!  Besides,  we  ac- 
knowledge no  propert}'  in  man;  with  principles  and  prac- 
tices so  opposite,  there  can  be  no  peace;  let  us  therefore 
keep  apart. 

Under  every  form  of  government,  even  the  most  despotic, 
where  property  in  man  is  disavowed,  there  may  and  do 
exist  a  variety  of  ties,  both  political  and  social;  not  sev- 
ered by  any  line  of  distinct  demarkation.  They  may  have 
family  connections,  and  many  other  interests  in  common. 
The  rich  are  frequently  brought  to  poverty,  and  the  poor 
often  become  rich.  These  classes  are  not  naturally  hostile 
to  each  other;  for  they  have  a  common  interest;  friends  in 
.  peace  and  companions  in  war.  But  in  a  nation  composed 
of  free  and  slave,  there  is  no  society.  One  portion  of  the 
people  is  separated  from  the  other  by  an  impassible  gulf. 
The  laws  made  by  one  class  are  known  to  the  other  only 


INFLUENCE   OF   THE   ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT.       259 

by  their  seventy.     Whatever  this  may  be,  it  is  no  repubhc. 
Give  to  this  tyrannical  confederacy  some  proper  name. 

The  contest  through  which  we  had  passed  was  carried  on 
by  that  degree  of  asperity  and  bitterness  which  must  ever 
be  felt,  where  principles  and  practices  are  so  opposite  as 
freedom  and  slavery.  We  spoke  our  minds  freely,  perhaps 
rashly,  as  Englishmen  are  apt  to  do,  and  this,  doubtless, 
gave  to  many  persons  offence,  which  our  silent  vote  might 
not  have  done.  Many  families  and  friends  were  separated 
and  estranged  from  each  other;  and  individuals  who  had 
hitherto  met  in  easy  social  acquaintance,  found  avoidance 
less  disagreeable  than  meeting.  I  look  back  to  the  part 
we  took  in  that  contest  with  some  pleasure,  and  with  some 
pride.  It  may  be  too  much  to  say  that  our  Settlement 
decided  the  fate  of  the  State  in  favor  of  freedom;  when 
other  settlements  and  small  communities  were  exerting 
themselves  as  heroically,,  and  as  well.  But  when  we  con- 
sider the  small  majority  by  which  this  Free-state  held  to  its 
integrity,  it  may  perhaps  be  inferred  that,  if  our  influence, 
as  well  as  our  votes,  had  been  cast  the  other  way,  Illinois 
would  probably  have  been  at  this  day  a  slave-state.  This 
important  election  over,  the  people,  once  more  in  quietude, 
pursued  their  accustomed  vocations. 

The  negro  question,  having  been  settled  by  the  State-vote 
governmentally,  came  upon  us  individually  in  no  pleasant 
way.  In  these  bickerings  and  disturbances,  whether  polit- 
ical or  personal,  we  should  always  bear  in  mind  the  differ- 
ence of  feeling  that  exists  between  Englishmen  and  Amer- 
icans, toward  the  African  race.  Englishmen,  never  having 
witnessed   in  their  own  country  suffering,  destitution,  and 


260     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

degradation  connected  exclusively  with  any  peculiarity  of 
complexion,  have  no  feeling  of  superiority  or  inferiority  as 
connected  with  a  cuticle  of  any  color.  Americans,  on  the 
contrary,  North  as  well  as  South,  retain  the  old  colonial 
feeling  of  hatred  to  color.  In  our  own  neighborhood,  the 
recent  contest  left  the  feelings  sore.  A  grudge  was  owed 
to  us;  we  had  pitilessly  exposed  and  zealously  fought  the 
pro-slavery  party. 

Three  black  men  and  their  families  —  Gilbert  Burris, 
Neptune  Calvin,  and  Matthew  Luther — came  from  the 
neighborhood  of  Carmi,  for  employment.  They  appeared 
to  be  very  decent  men,  had  been  brought  up  in  the  habits 
of  industry  and  sobriety  by  the  Shakers,  by  whom  they 
were  emancipated  and  brought  to  this  State.  Their  papers 
were  examined,  found  to  be  regular,  and  were  recorded. 
Luther  was  a  miller,  and  attended  the  mill  in  Albion, 
that  was  built  by  my  father,  and  after  his  death  owned  by 
me.  The  other  two  were  farmers,  and  right  good  corn- 
farmers,  too.  To  these  I  rented  land  on  the  usual  terms 
of  ten  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre.  To  us  it  made  no 
difference,  black  or  white;  if  they  did  our  work  we  paid 
them  their  wages.  Whenever  they  or  their  little  property 
received  injury  from  wilful  theft  or  violence,  I  gave  them 
protection.  I  soon  found  this  in  some  sort  to  be  an  offence ; 
and  to  my  surprise,  by  some  Eastern  men  as  well  as  South- 
ern. We  were  verdant  in  those  days,  and  did  not  know 
that  "  black  men  had  no  rights  that  white  men  need 
respect."  A  black  man  named  Arthur,  who  had  been  in 
my  service  for  more  than  a  year,  was  suddenly  arrested 
and    taken    before  a  magistrate,  a   New   Englander,  and 


KIDNAPPING — POOR   MOSES    MICHAELS.  26 1 

claimed  as  a  slave.  As  he  came  from  Indiana,  where  he 
had  resided  many  years,  I  pleaded  that  he  could  not  be  a 
slave — the  laws  of  the  Territory  and  the  State  alike  forbid- 
ding slavery.  They  claimed  to  hold  him  by  an  indenture- 
law  for  ninety-nine  years.  I  pleaded  the  nullity  of  the 
law.  Our  poor  magistrate,  Moses  Michaels,  who  never 
dared  say  "  boo  to  a  goose,"  after  spending  half  a  day  and 
goine  over  to  another  magistrate  three  miles  off  to  consult, 
did  not  give  the  black  man  up,  but  put  me  in  unreasonably 
heavy  bonds  of  two  thousand  dollars  for  his  appearance  at 
the  next  county-court,  to  be  held  at  Palmyra,  the  then 
county-seat,  on  the  great  Wabash,  nineteen  miles  and  five 
months  of  time  distant. 

Long  before  the  assembling  of  the  court,  parties  were 
sent  over  from  Indiana  to  steal  the  man  away,  that  I  might 
be  mulcted  in  the  penalty  of  the  bond ;  whilst  they  might 
run  him  off  and  pocket  his  price  when  sold  as  a  slave. 
The  interval  between  the  decision  of  the  magistrate  and 
the  meeting  of  the  county-court  was  spent  in  constant 
watchfulness,  mental  disturbance,  and  frequent  skirmishes, 
often  imperiling  life.  The  man,  Arthur,  appeared  duly  at 
court.  John  McLean  of  Shawneetown,  was  counsel  for 
plaintiff;  Judge  McDonald  of  Vincennes,  forme,  as  defend- 
ant. The  counsel  conferred  together.  McDonald  exhibited 
a  decision  of  the  supreme  court  of  Indiana  in  a  similar 
case.  John  McLean  was  too  good  a  lawyer,  and  too 
shrewd  a  man,  to  allow  any  case  to  come  into  court  where 
the  law  was  dead  against  him.  So  the  case  was  never 
called,  and  the  man  returned  to  my  service  as  a  free  man. 
So  this  case  was  terminated  in  Illinois,  that  is  to  say,  after 
I  had  paid  my  counsel  his  fifty-dollar  fee. 


262     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

When  at  Vincennes  some  months  afterward,  I  was  served 
with  a  writ  and  arrested  by  the  sherifif,  at  the  instance  of 
the  claimant  of  Arthur.  I  had  to  choose  between  going 
to  jail  and  giving  bond.  The  latter  was  easily  effected. 
Before  the  meeting  of  the  Indiana  court,  I  received  several 
threatening  letters  to  deter  me  from  appearing  at  court. 
When  the  time  arrived  three  friends  accompanied  me  there, 
all  armed.  The  law  was  again  in  my  favor.  But  an  enemy 
more  mighty  than  the  kidnapper  fell  upon  us.  A  terrible 
epidemic,  resembling  the  yellow-fever,  prevailed  at  this 
time  at  Vincennes.  We  were  all  four  of  us  taken  down 
with  it,  and  lay  long  in  a  precarious  situation  between  life 
and  death. 

Another  case  of  this  kind  from  Indiana  produced  another 
set  of  tactics  on  the  part  of  our  opponents.  A  man  of 
color  was  working  for  me.  His  pretended  claimant,  with 
suitable  associates,  suddenly  surrounded  the  cabin  of  the 
black,  and  had  him  bound  before  the  alarm  at  my  house,  a 
short  distance  away,  was  given.  In  this  case  the  kidnap- 
pers gained  their  point,  taking  him  before  a  magistrate  of 
pro-slavery  tendencies.  He  gave  the  man  up  to  the 
claimant,  who  took  him  into  Indiana,  and  the  man  was 
never  heard  of  afterward.  I  presented  the  claimant,  a  man 
of  note  and  in  official  station,  to  the  grand -jury.  Whilst 
stating  the  case,  one  of  the  jurymen  called  out  with  some 
excitement,  that  the  man  was  quite  right  in  taking  the 
negro.  The  foreman  of  the  jury  said,  "Sir,  you  only  came 
to  present  the  facts,  and  in  so  doing  are  quite  right."  In 
turning  to  leave  the  room,  I  saw  at  once  the  case  was  de- 
cided, and  so  it  was.  The  bill  was  refused.  The  majority 
of  the  jury  were  decidedly  pro-slavery. 


THE   "WHITE-RIVER  INDIANS."  263 

My  presentation  to  the  grand-jury  gave  great  umbrage 
to  all  in  Indiana  who  held  black  men  properly  entitled  to 
their  freedom,  under  their  fraudulent  indenture-law,  which 
had  already  been  decided  by  their  supreme  court  to  be 
null,  void,  and  of  no  effect. 

Kidnapping  of  whole  families  of  free  blacks  in  the  south 
of  Indiana  was  no  uncommon  thing.  The  moral  sense  of 
the  community  received  no  shock  at  such  outrages.  A 
horse-thief  was  held  to  stricter  accountability  than  a  man- 
thief  The  south  of  Indiana,  like  the  south  of  Illinois,  is 
chiefly  peopled  by  Southerners,  who  hold  property  in  higher 
esteem  than  liberty. 

In  the  timbered  regions  of  Indiana,  on  the  White  River, 
hved  a  set  of  desperadoes  who  had  the  appellation  of 
"White-River  Indians."  Among  these  were  a  family  sunk 
low  in  barbarism,  and  all  the  grosser  vices.  The  sons  of 
this  family,  three  in  number,  associated  with  one  or  two 
others  more  respectable,  but  who  would  not  at  that  period 
decline  a  foray  on  the  pro-slavery  side,  were  sent  over  to 
molest  us,  especially  me  and  my  family,  even  to  the  taking 
of  life.  Yet  these  wretches  found  harbor  and  encourage- 
ment among  the  Southern  settlers  around  us. 

Suddenly  alarmed  by  the  sound  of  human  voices,  the 
barking  of  dogs,  and  the  report  of  fire-arms,  I  ran  over  to 
my  father's  house  a  little  before  midnight.  An  Englishman, 
Thomas  Harding,  who  lived  at  my  father's  as  farm-servant, 
having  occasion  to  step  out  of  the  house,  was  knocked  down 
by  the  blow  of  a  club  on  the  back  of  his  head,  by  some 
man  who  stood  concealed  in  the  shadow,  close  to  the  wall 
of  the  house.     My  father,  alarmed  by  the  noise,  went  out. 


264     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

saw  one  man  retreating  from  the  court-yard  into  the 
woods,  and  another  lying  bleeding  on  the  ground,  appar- 
ently lifeless.  He  dragged  the  wounded  man  into  the 
house  and  closed  the  door.  At  first  we  thought  it  an 
attempt  at  house-breaking.  But  finding  who  the  parties 
were,  and  their  object,  we  assembled  our  forces.  Many 
shots  were  exchanged,  and  the  marauders  for  a  time  driven 
off.  The  annoyance  from  these  fellows  became  so  great, 
that  we  determined  to  rid  ourselves  of  them  at  all  hazards. 
Myself,  Mr.  Hugh  Ronalds,  Mr.  Henry  Birkett,  together 
with  a  constable,  mounted  and  went  in  pursuit.  We  over- 
took them  after  a  hard  gallop  on  a  hot  summer's  day,  in 
the  open  woods,  ten  miles  distant.  We  were  equal  in 
number,  man  for  man.  They  with  rifles,  we  with  pistols. 
Whilst  the  constable  was  reading  his  warrant,  we  rode  up, 
got  within  the  rifle-guard,  and  presented  our  pistols, 
each  to  his  man.  At  this  juncture,  a  very  ill-looking  fel- 
low, one  of  the  gang,  suddenly  rode  up  at  full  speed.  This 
gave  them  the  advantage  of  one  in  number,  of  which  the 
last  comer  instantly  availed  himself,  by  jumping  from  his 
horse  and  leveling  his  rifle  at  Mr.  Ronalds,  whom  he  doubt- 
less would  have  shot  had  not  the  man  I  was  guarding  as 
suddenly  leaped  from  his  horse  and  knocked  up  the  rifle, 
when  in  the  act  of  being  discharged. 

Many  other  things  of  the  same  character  occurred.  It 
was  a  state  of  warfare  of  the  most  disagreeable  kind.  They 
were  taken  back  to  Albion  and  bound  over. 

A  circumstance  inexpressibly  ludicrous  occurred  in  the 
midst  of  the  strife.  Amid  oaths,  boastings,  refusals  to  sur- 
render or  return,  when  every  one  was  meditating  murder 


A   COLONY   FOR   HAYTI.  265 

on  the  other,  our  Yankee  constable  brought  forward  a 
quart  bottle  of  whisky,  with  a  deprecatory  smile  and  good- 
humored  voice — "Now,  boys,  come  and  take  a  drink;  now 
come  along  with  us  quiet,  and  we'll  treat  you  like  gentle- 
men." The  effect  was  sudden;  the  transition  of  feeling 
complete.  We  all  laughed,  and  did  as  our  worthy 
constable  bade  us — at  least,  all  out*  prisoners  did.  We 
returned  to  Albion  riding  in  pairs,  with  our  arms  in  our 
hands.  There  never  was  a  slave  taken  in  our  neighbor- 
hood, and  I  believe  that  there  never  was  more  than  one 
that  came  to  it. 

These,  and  similar  outrages  on  ourselves,  and  assaults  on 
the  peaceable  blacks  settled  among  us,  were  of  frequent 
occurrence.  Seeing  no  hope  of  just  treatment  to  the  free 
colored  people  that  lived  on  my  lands,  or  of  relieving  my- 
self from  the  trouble  of  defending  them,  I  proposed  that 
they  should  go  to  Hayti.  When  they  acceded  to  my  pro- 
posal, I  thought  it  due  to  them  and  myself  to  acquire  more 
specific  information  of  the  island,  and  of  the  terms  on 
which  they  would  be  received.  For  this  purpose,  I  em- 
ployed Mr.  Robert  Grayham  (formerly  an  English  mer- 
chant), a  gentleman  who  spoke  the  French  language  with 
fluency.  He  was  at  the  time  living  with  his  brother-in- 
law,  Mr.  Sorgenfrey,  in  a  prairie  west  of  the  Little  Wabash. 
Their  former  habits  not  suiting  them  to  prairie  life,  Mr.  Sor- 
genfrey went  to  Carmi,  and  Mr.  Grayham  took  this  mission 
as  a  first  step  to  a  future  change.  I  gave  him  five  hundred 
dollars  to  bear  his  expenses,  with  a  letter  to  Gen.  Boyer, 
then  president  of  Hayti,  representing  the  case,  and  asking 
an  asylum   for  my  party  of  blacks,  big  and  little,  about 


266     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

thirty  in  number;  also  for  other  free  people  of  color  of  the 
United  States,  if  they  chose  to  go  there.  Mr.  Grayham 
returned  in  good  time.  He  gave  me  a  very  pleasing 
account  of  his  visit  to  the  island,  his  interview  with  Ingi- 
nac,  the  secretary,  and  with  Boyer,  the  president. 

When  Boyer  heard  from  Mr.  Grayham  that  I  had  given 
five  hundred  dollars  to  get  this  information  for  the  poor 
blacks,  he,  in  the  handsomest  manner,  handed  him  the 
amount,  requesting  him  to  give  it  to  me,  which  he  did  on 
his  return.  The  document  he  sent  me  in  reply  to  my  long 
letter,  and  many  inquiries,  was  an  official  one,  from  the 
office  of  the  secretary-of-state,  stamped  with  the  insignia 
of  the  republic,  with  national  mottoes  and  devices.  For 
propriety  and  perspicuity  of  diction,  and  for  the  neatness 
and  beauty  of  its  mechanical  execution,  it  will  favorably 
compare  with  similar  documents  from  any  government, 
whether  European  or  American. 

The  followmg  spring,  the  colored  emigrants  prepared  to 
take  their  departure.  Among  them  were  three  brothers, 
men  of  extraordinary  stature,  standing  six  feet  four,  and 
over.  This  family  of  Joneses,  able-bodied  men  and  good 
farmers,  with  two  or  three  other  colored  families,  formerly 
lived  higher  up  the  Wabash,  and  were  mustered  into  the 
service  of  the  United  States  by  Gen.  Harrison,  who  formed 
a  colored  company  to  aid  in  defending  the  frontier  during 
the  war  in  1812.  Provided  with  a  good  flat-boat,  stocked 
with  sufficient  provisions  for  their  inland  navigation  and 
sea  voyage,  well  furnished  with  axes,  hoes,  and  plows,  this 
party  of  colored  people  left  the  mouth  of  Bonpas  Creek, 
where   Grayville  now  stands,   in  March,    1823,   under    the 


THE   COLONISTS   ORGANIZED.  267 

guidance  and  care  of  Mr.  Robert  Grayham,  the  only  white 
man  on  board. 

The  testimonials  of  their  freedom  were  complete;  signed 
by  the  clerk  of  the  county,  the  secretary-of-state,  and  by 
Governor  Coles  himself.  They  floated  down  the  Wabash, 
and  entered  the  Ohio  in  safety.  As  they  were  floating 
quietly  and  peaceably  down  the  stream,  when  opposite 
to  Shawneetown  they  were  hailed,  and  invited  to  land, 
which  Mr.  Grayham  acceded  to,  having  many  acquaint- 
ances, and  being  well  known  in  the  town.  When  about  to 
depart,  he  was  compelled  to  remain,  with  threats  of  sinking 
his  boat  if  he  made  the  attempt  to  go.  He  and  the  peo- 
ple were  forcibly  detained  for  four  and  twenty  hours. 
They  were  at  length  sufi"ered  to  depart,  amid  much  confu- 
sion and  violent  denunciations.  Of  the  peaceable  demeanor 
and  lawful  objects  of  the  emigrants,  there  was  no  question. 
By  a  strange  inconsistency,  the  very  people  who  profess 
to  dislike  the  existence  of  free  blacks  among  us,  were  the 
most  bitter  opponents  to  their  removal. 

At  the  expense  of  slight  repetition,  I  will  insert  a  letter 
addressed  by  me  to  the  editor  of  the  Shazuncctoivn  Gazete, 
dated  Jan.  22,  1824: 

"J/r.  Editor: — It  will  be  gratifying  to  the  friends  ot 
humanity  to  learn,  that  the  party  of  colored  people  that 
left  the  Wabash  last  March,  arrived  safely  in  the  island  of 
Hayti  on  the  8th  of  June.  To  those  good  people  of  Shaw- 
neetown, and  others  who  have  expressed  apprehensions 
that  Mr.  Flower  and  Mr.  Grayham  had  sold  these  poor 
blacks,  it  will  doubtless  be  a  high  source  of  satisfaction  to 
hear  that  upon  their  arrival  at  Hayti,  they  were  welcomed 


268     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

by  the  people  and  kindly  received  by  the  president,  who 
put  them  on  a  good  plantation,  about  twenty  miles  from 
the  capital.  To  remove  erroneous  impressions  arising 
from  false  reports  concerning  this  party  of  blacks,  I  will 
give  a  brief  history  of  their  emigration.  A  few  families  of 
colored  people,  living  on  my  land  as  tenants,  wished  to  go 
to  some  country  where  their  liberty  and  property  would  be 
better  secured  to  them  than  in  this.  Some  of  them  made 
application  to  the  African  Colonization  Society;  but,  re- 
ceiving no  encouragement  or  assistance,  gave  up  the  plan. 
I  recommended  St.  Domingo  as  a  country  better  suited  to 
them,  and  one  to  which  they  could  transport  themselves 
with  ease.  Particular  information  being  wanted,  I  sent 
Mr.  Robert  Grayham  to  Hayti,  to  learn  the  expense  and 
difficulties  of  the  voyage,  the  state  of  the  country,  and 
what  encouragement  would  be  given  to  black  emigrants 
from  the  United  States.  He  returned  in  October,  1822, 
with  the  requisite  information.  The  answer  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  Hayti  to  my  inquiries  was  published  in  your 
paper.  In  March,  1823,  a  party  of  colored  people,  about 
thirty  in  number,  left  the  Wabash  in  a  boat  of  their  own, 
with  some  freight  put  on  board  by  myself  and  others, 
under  the  care  of  Mr.  Robert  Grayham,  who  was  to  conduct 
the  boat  to  New  Orleans,  and  see  the  people  on  board  a 
vessel  for  Port  au  Prince.  The  boat  stopped  at  Shawnee- 
town  for  a  few  hours.  Mr.  Grayham,  having  dispatched  his 
business  there,  was  in  the  act  of  departing,  w^hen  a  mob 
assembled  on  the  shore  and  ordered  him  to  come-to  again, 
accompanied  by  a  threat  of  sinking  the  boat,  in  case  of 
noncompliance.    The  boat  was  again  brought  to  shore.    On 


OUTRAGES   ON   COLONISTS    AT   NEW  ORLEANS.      269 

Mr.  Grayham's  inquiring  what  they  wanted,  these  officious 
people  were  somewhat  at  a  loss.  They  wanted  him  to 
sleep  on  shore!  To  this  unreasonable  request  he  complied, 
on  condition  that  a  friend  should  sleep  on  board  for  the 
protection  of  property.  The  next  day  he  departed.  Upon 
his  arrival  at  New  Orleans,  Mr.  Grayham,  as  a  matter  of 
courtesy,  waited  upon  the  mayor,  and  informed  him  that 
his  boat  was  manned  by  free  colored  people  from  Illinois 
and  Indiana,  who  were  going,  with  their  families  to  Hayti. 
This  official  immediately  replied  that  he  would  send  them 
all  to  jail;  and,  if  they  were  not  sent  out  of  the  city  in 
eight  days,  he  would  sell  them  all  for  slaves.  The  remon- 
strances of  Mr.  Grayham  against  such  violent  aggression 
upon  the  persons  of  free  inhabitants  of  the  United  States, 
passing  to  a  foreign  country,  was  to  no  effect.  The  men  , 
were  thrown  into  prison.  But  at  the  intercession  of  a 
humane  friend,  Mr.  Gilbert,  the  women  and  children  were 
permitted  to  remain  on  board  their  own  boat;  also  two 
men,  for  whose  appearance  and  good  behavior  this  friend 
gave  a  bond.  Mr.  Grayham,  placed  in  this  unpleasant  situ- 
ation, hastily  took  a  passage  in  a  vessel  about  to  sail  in 
three  days  for  St.  Domingo.  The  poor  men,  deprived  of 
the  means  of  earning  anything  on  the  wharves,  and  more 
than  all  they  had  demanded  of  them  for  jail-fees,  etc.,  were 
unable  to  pay  their  passage  money,  and  would  actually 
have  been  sold  as  slaves  by  the  mayor  of  New  Orleans, 
had  not  Mr.  Grayham  promptly  drawn  on  me  for  the  neces- 
sary funds — three  hundred  and  sixty  dollars — to  carry  them 
out  of  the  country.  Thus  were  the  free  inhabitants  of  the 
United   States,  while  peaceably  pursuing  their  way  to  a 


2/0     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

neighboring  country,  without  fault  or  crime  imputed  or 
alleged  against  them,  threatened  with  the  doom  of  slavery, 
if  they  did  not  submit  to  the  extortion  of  their  money 
under  the  title  of  jail-fees,  by  the  chief- magistrate  of  a 
city  of  this  Republic,  boasting  the  inalienable  and  inherent 
rights  of  man,  and  vaunting  itself  as  the  most  enlightened 
nation  of  the  earth. 

"With  what  indignation  will  all  those  good  people  view 
the  conduct  of  the  mayor  of  New  Orleans,  who  could  not 
help  expressing  their  apprehensions  lest  Mr.  Flower  and 
Mr.  Grayham  should  have  sold  these  blacks. 

"Albion,  Jan.  22,  1824..  George  Flower." 

The  mayor  of  New  Orleans  was  a  refugee  from  Hayti, 
which  accounts,  in  some  degree,  for  the  unusual  violence 
he  displayed  on  the  occasion.  But  anxieties  were  not  yet 
at  an  end.  The  brig,  often  becalmed,  was  long  on  its 
passage. 

In  the  meantime,  many  sinister  reports  began  to  be 
spread  about,  and  afterward  more  openly  circulated,  that 
Mr.  Grayham  and  myself  had  enveigled  the  black  men, 
and,  under  pretence  of  sending  them  to  a  land  of  liberty, 
had'  sold  them  all  for  slaves  in  the  South.  The  return  of 
Mr.  Grayham,  some  months  afterward,  with  a  stock  of 
goods  to  open  a  store,  in  the  eyes  of  many  confirmed  the 
report.  It  was  several  months  (and  I  confess  to  some 
anxiety  during  the  time)  before  I  could  confute  these  slan- 
ders by  the  publication  of  any  letters,  either  from  Mr- 
Grayham  or  the  colored  emigrants.  They  came,  at  last, 
from  both  sources — from  the  poor  people,  rejoicing  in  their 


THE   COLONISTS    SETTLED   IN    HAYTI.  27 1 

change  of  country,  and  thanking  me  for  my  assistance  in 
eettino"  them  there. 

A  He  once  widely  spread  is  seldom  entirely  eradicated. 
There  are  probably  now  living,  those  who  believe  that 
George  Flower  sold  the  free  colored  people,  and  pocketed 
the  money;  but  only,  I  am  happy  to  say,  among  that 
class  who  would  have  no  scruple  in  doing  it  themselves. 

The  emigration  of  this  small  colony  of  blacks  from  Illi- 
nois produced  movements  of  greater  importance  than  w(^re 
involved  in  their  own  personal  destinies.  So  well  pleased 
were  the  rulers  of  Hayti  with  the  efficient  farming,  sober 
habits,  and  general  industry  of  the  Illinois  emigrants,  that 
they  conceived  the  idea  of  encouraging  the  free  blacks  of 
the  Unites  States  to  emigrate  on  a  much  larger  scale. 
For  this  purpose,  the  Haytian  Government  sent  their  citi- 
zen Granville,  a  well-informed  and  well-educated  man,  on 
a  mission  to  encourage  the  emigration  of  free  people-of- 
color,  and  offered  fourteen  dollars  a  head  as  passage  money 
to  Hayti. 

His  mission  was  successful  so  far  as  numbers  were  con- 
cerned. Five  thousand  or  more  went,  chiefly  from  the 
cities  of  New  York  and  Baltimore.  The  influential  citi- 
zens of  Philadelphia  took  a  different  view  of  the  emigration 
of  their  free-colored  population  to  Hayti,  and  decidedly 
gave  it  discouragement.  As  the  question  may  again  arise 
in  this  State,  the  reasons  that  influenced  the  Philadelphians 
should  be  duly  appreciated.  I  therefore  give  the  following 
letter  which  I  received  at  the  time  : 

''Dear  Sir: — You  will  have  learned  by  the  public  prints 
that    Citizen    Granville    arrived    some   weeks    since    from 


2/2     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTV. 

Hayti,  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  emigration  of  free 
people -of -color  to  that  country.  He  was  accompanied 
from  New  York  by  Professor  Griscom,  who  was  very  san- 
guine that  a  society  for  promoting  this  object  would  be 
desirable  here,  as  well  as  at  New  York.  A  meeting  was 
held  a  few  days  since  with  ten  or  a  dozen  of  our  influential 
characters,  and  a  full  development  of  the  subject  was 
discussed;  the  result  of  which  was  unanimously  against 
promoting  the  views  of  Granville.  Among  other  objec- 
tions, he  admitted,  that  the  government  was  a  military 
despotism;  that  the  land  proposed  to  be  allotted  to  emi- 
grants was  to  each  one  fifteen  acres;  that  these  lands  are 
still  claimed  by  the  Spanish  authorities,  and  may  still  be  a 
source  of  much  contention;  that  the  prevalent  religion  is 
the  Roman  Catholic;  and  that  with  industry  a  laborer 
would  not  earn  more  than  two  dollars  a  week.  The  citi- 
zens of  Philadelphia  are  by  no  means  likely  to  promote 
the  emigration  to  Hayti  while  those  of  New  York  are 
engaged  in  the  object,  and  now  about  dispatching  a  vessel 
with  passengers.  Very  respectfully, 

"Jeremiah  Warden. 

''August  1 8th,  182^:' 

But  these  city-bred  Africans  were  not  farmers,  like  the 
Illinois  men.  Barbers,  waiters,  and  a  large  portion  of 
them  found  in  the  lower  strata  of  city  life,  afforded  poor 
materials  for  any  beneficial  purpose,  and  the  removal  of 
most  of  them  was  a  disappointment  to  themselves  and  to 
the  Haytian  Government. 

This  event,  well  known  at  the  time,  occurred  in  1824  or 
1825,  and   is  doubtless   recollected  by  many  persons  now 


DISCOVERERS   AND   FIRST-FOUNDERS.  2/3 

living.  As  the  convention  question,  and  the  contests  about 
the  rights  of  the  free  blacks,  formed  two  prominent  points 
in  our  early  history,  I  have  dwelt  more  fully  upon  these 
details.  Thus  ends  the  black  chapter  ©f  our  history.  But 
ill-feelings  engendered  during  the  contest  manifested  them- 
selves in  other  forms,  and  for  some  time  continued  to 
■disturb  and  distract  us. 

There  are  certain  classes  of  men  who  appear  destined  to 
receive  sometime  in  their  life,  and  oftentimes  during  their 
whole  career,  a  large  share  of  opposition,  detraction,  and 
misrepresentation.  The  inventors  of  new  machines,  whose 
labor-saving  power  benefits*  the  whole  family  of  man, 
receive  cruel  opposition  in  their  first  attempts  to  perfect 
their  inventions  and  bring  them  to  the  notice  of  the  pub- 
lic. Scorn,  contempt,  and  ridicule  are  poured  upon  them 
during  their  lives,  and  after  dying  in  their  fruitless  strug- 
gles, some  one  steps  in  and  reaps  the  reward  of  their  labor, 
and  disingenuously  claims  the  honor  of  the  invention. 
Fitch  and  Fulton,  of  the  steam-boat,  and  Whitney,  inven- 
tor of  the  cotton-gin,  are  familiar  instances  of  this  class  in 
America.  Discoverers  of  new  countries,  whose  penetra- 
tion and  perseverance  have  carried  their  attempts  to  a 
successful  issue,  and  whose  toils  have  changed  and  im- 
proved the  condition  of  the  world,  are  subject  to  the  same 
fate.  Witness  Columbus  pursuing  his  great  idea,  with 
slender  and  apparently  inadequate  means,  through  scorn, 
neglect,  and  opposition,  t®  a  successful  issue,  after  short 
eclat,  in  a  dungeon  and  in  chains.  The  first-founders  of 
settlements  in  new  or  uninhabited  countries,  seldom  fail  of 
receiving  a  large  share  of  opposition,  detraction,  and  pecu- 
i8 


274     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

niary  loss.  The  most  remarkable  instance  of  this  kind  is 
to  be  witnessed  in  the  life  and  fortunes  of  the  founder  of 
the  great  State  of  Pennsylvania,  William  Penn.  Under 
ill-luck  and  miscarriage  the  world  seldom  fails  to  visit  on 
the  leaders  of  any  great  enterprise,  reproach  and  condem- 
nation. But  in  the  settlement  of  Pennsylvania  a  combina- 
tion of  happy  circumstances  led  to  complete  success.  The 
munificence  of  the  grant!  The  whole  province  of  Penn-* 
sylvania  given  in  fee-simple  to  its  founder;  its  advantageous 
situation  on  the  sea-board;  the  peculiar  state  of  the  mother 
country,  sending  forth  emigrants  in  number,  and  many  of 
worth  and  character;  the  talent  and  integrity  of  its  founder; 
his  ample  fortune  and  life-long  devotion  to  the  interests  of 
the  province;  a  combination  of  fortunate  circumstances 
rarely,  if  ever,  witnessed  in  any  other  similar  enterprise, 
did  not  save  the  illustrious  founder  from  the  fate  of  men 
in  his  position.  Pursued  during  his  whole  life  by  falsehood 
and  defamation,  we  find  him  at  its  close  in  debt,  compelled 
to  mortgage  the  whole  province  for  five  thousand  pounds, 
himself  confined  to  the  limits  of  the  Fleet  prison,  and  in 
that  humiliating  situation  would  have  died,  without  one 
friendly  voice  or  helping-hand  from  the  great  province  he 
had  successfully  established,  but  for  the  assistance  of  some 
individuals  of  his  own  religious  persuasion  in  England. 

For  facts  so  conspicuous  the  reasons  seem  rather  obscure. 
Is  it  some  great  law  of  compensation  that  runs  through  all 
things,  balancing  advantage  with  disadvantage.^  pleasure 
with  pain  ?     As  the  old  poet  has  it, 

"Every  white  must  have  its  black 
And  every  sweet  its  sour." 


LOCAL   HOSTILITY   TO   MR.   FLOWER.  2/5 

Or  is  it  to  be  found  in  the  universal  but  unextinguishable 
propensity  in  every  human  breast;  the  love  of  giving 
pain;  ethics,  morals,  and  religion  notwithstanding? 

There  is  a  mysterious  antagonism  in  the  order  of  nature, 
running  through  all  life,  vegetable  and  animal.  Every 
plant  as  well  as  animal  has  its  own  peculiar  enemy,  perse- 
cutor, and  destroyer.  But  man  is  the  chief  enemy  of  man. 
Let  no  man  think  to  pass  through  this  life  without  his 
share  of  annoyances,  and  as  in  duty  bound  I  had  mine. 
If  he  belongs  to  either  of  the  classes  I  have  mentioned,  he 
is  an  imperfect  calculator,  who  does  not  sum  up  a  con- 
siderable share  to  his  own  account.  It  was  about  this 
time  that  hostile  feelings  seemed  to  culminate  against  me. 
I  was  assailed  by  legal  proceedings,  as  well  as  other  annoy- 
ances, in  every  way  that  malice  and  ingenuity  could  invent. 
But  the  whole  of  this  hostility  was  local,  confined  to  our 
Settlement,  and  from  a  portion  of  my  own  country  peo- 
ple. With  American  gentlemen  and  their  families,  far  and 
near,  from  my  first  entrance  into  the  State  up  to  the 
present  day,  my  intercourse  has  been  one  of  unbroken 
kindness  and  courtesy.  It  is  true,  I  neglected  somewhat 
that  shield  of  popularity  which  men  of  any  standing  in 
our  new  western  country  might  not  at  that  day  with  impu- 
nity neglect.  I  rode  into  our  little  town  most  days  to 
attend  to  any  business,  or  speak  with  those  to  whom  I  had 
anything  to  say.  I  did  not  linger  much,  or  enter  grog- 
shops, for  I  used  neither  whisky  nor  tobacco,  their  chief 
articles  of  sale.  I  did  not  sympathise  in  these  matters 
with  the  population  around  me,  and  this  position  an  enemy 
could  turn  to  my  disadvantage  at  any  time.     A  man  to  be 


2/6     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

popular  in  our  new  western  towns  and  with  the  country- 
people  around,  should  be  acquainted  with  everybody,  shake 
hands  with  everybody,  and  wear  an  old  coat,  with  at  least 
one  good  hole  in  it.  A  little  whisky  and  a  few  squirts  of 
tobacco-juice  are  indispensable.  From  much  of  the  former 
you  may  be  excused  if  you  treat  liberally  to  others.  If 
there  is  one  fool  bigger  than  another,  defer  to  him,  make 
much  of  him.  If  there  is  one  fellow  a  little  more  greasy 
and  dirty  than  another,  be  sure  to  Jiug  Jiini.  Do  all  this 
and  you  have  done  much  toward  being  a  popular  man- 
At  least  you  could  scarcely  have  a  jury-case  carried  against 
you.  I  did  not  do  all  this  and  was  therefore  at  a  disad- 
vantage against  active  enemies  who  did,  and  who  were 
leagued  against  me  to  drive  me  and  my  family  from  the 
Settlement.  This  period  was  the  only  exception  to  an 
unusual  happy  life  of  thirty  years  duration.  And  thirty 
years  is  a  large  slice  of  a  man's  life. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

Murder  of  Richard  Flower,  son  of  George  Flower — Murderer  Ac- 
quitted— Large  Outlays  for  Food — Relations  between  New  Har- 
mony and  the  English  Settlement — Robert  Owen  Buys  Out  the 
Harmonites — New  Harmony  under  Robert  Owen — Men  Eminent 
in  Literature,  Science,  and  Art  Flocked  Around  him — His  Doc- 
trines Promulgated  Spread  far  and  wide — Mr.  Owen's  Ability  as 
a  Conversationist  and  His  Equanimity  of  Temper — His  Address 
to  the  People  of  Albion — Rapp's  Society  at  New  Harmony. 

About  this  time,  a  melancholy  event  occurred  in  my 
family.  Myself  and  father  were  at  Pittsburgh,  returning 
from  the  Eastern  cities,  when  the  news  of  the  death  of 
my  eldest  son  was  communicated  to  us  by  Frederick 
Rapp.  It  was  occasioned  by  violence,  and  occurred  in  the 
following  manner:  My  eldest  son,  Richard,  then  a  prom- 
ising lad,  was  living  at  Park  House  with  his  grandmother, 
during  my  own  and  his  grandfather's  journey  to  the  East. 
Late  in  the  evening,  some  backwoodsmen  of  the  lowest 
description,  as  they  came  from  Albion,  probably  full  of 
whisky,  rode  by  the  house,  uttered  several  whoops  and 
yells,  as  if  in  defiance,  as  they  sometimes  would  do.  The 
noise  they  made,  induced  the  dogs  to  rush  out  barking. 
My  son  Richard  ran  out  to  call  off  the  dogs,  which  he  did. 
As  he  turned  round,  to  walk  into  the  house,  one  of  the 
fellows  dismounted,  and,  picking  up  a  large  bone,  threw  it 
at  the  poor  lad.  It  struck  him  with  violence  on  the  back 
of  his   head.      He    was   assisted    to   bed,    from   which   he 


2/8     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

never  arose.  The  scull  was  crushed  and  the  brain  injured. 
Notwithstanding  all  medical  assistance  and  care  that  was 
given  him,  he  died  in  a  few  hours.  A  court  was  called; 
the  man  tried,  and,  of  course,  acquitted. 

Large  outlays  were  required  for  food  during  the  first 
three  years;  and  these  expenditures  fell  almost  exclusively 
upon  the  heads  of  the  Settlement.  These  were  drawn, 
some  from  Shawneetown  and  some  from  Harmony,  the 
former  sixty,  the  latter  twenty-five  miles  distant.  Between 
Albion  and  Shawneetown,  for  several  years,  John  Morgan's 
horse-team  and  William  Harris'  ox-team  constantly  trav- 
eled; these  brought  us  groceries  and  other  commodities 
from  those  quarters.  But  the  chief  supply  of  flour,  meal, 
whisky,  woollen  and  cotton  cloths,  all  the  manufacture  of 
■  the  Harmonites  came  from  Harmony.  My  first  bill  with 
the  Harmonites  amounted  to  eleven  thousand  dollars,  and 
I  afterward  paid  them  many  large  sums.  It  is  said  that, 
between  the  years  i8i8  and  1824,  the  Harmonites  received 
from  our  Settlement,  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars,  in  hard  cash. 

The  first  herd  of  thirty  head  of  large  cattle  were  pur- 
chased by  me  for  sixteen  dollars  a-head.  The  following 
spring,  my  father  sent,  from  Lexington,  Ky.,  sixty  fine 
steers  and  a  noble  bull,  of  English  breed,  a  large  and 
hardy  animal,  that  imparted  the  first  improvement  to  the 
neat  stock  of  the  country.  In  this  way,  the  Settlement 
was  at  first  supported,  until  it  raised  enough  to  live  upon, 
and  a  surplus  to  spare.  The  low  price  of  all  produce,  for 
some  years,  although  advantageous  to  incomers  from  the 
old  country,  was  discouraging  to  the  farmers.     With  corn 


SALE   OF   NEW   HARMONY.  279 

at  ten  and  twelve  cents  a  bushel ;  pork,  two  cents ;  beef, 
one  and  a-half  cents  a  pound ;  hiring  labor  would  not  pay ; 
and  the  farmer  who  worked  for  himself,  could  not  feel  any 
adequate  money-remuneration. 

In  1824,  my  father  was  requested,  by,  Mr.  Frederick  and 
Mr.  George  Rapp,  to  act  as  agent  and  endeavor  to  sell,  in  ■■ 
England,  all  the  possessions  of  the  Harmonites,  on  the 
Great  Wabash,  on  which  between  four  and  five  hundred 
Germans,  of  both  sexes,  had  labored  and  built  for  the  last 
nine  years,  with  all  the  perseverance  and  method  of  that 
singular  and  interesting  community. 

My  father  undertook  the  business,  and  almost  immedi- 
ately proceeded  to  England,  accompanied  by  his  youngest 
son,  Edward  Fordham  Flower,  my  junior  by  twenty  years, 
then  a  slender  stripling  youth.  My  father  left  him  in 
England;  and  there  he  is  now,  a  wealthy  proprietor  of 
one  of  the  largest  breweries  in  the  kingdom,  at  Stratford- 
on-Avon,  Warwickshire. 

The  description  and  the  advertising  of  the  Harmony 
property  in  England,  attracted  the  attention  of  Mr.  Robert 
Owen  of  Lanark,  Scotland,  who  came  over,  viewed  the 
property,  and  became  the  owner,  by  purchase,  of  all  the 
possessions  of  the  Harmonites,  on  the  Wabash.  The 
quantity  of  land  sold  by  Rapp  to  Owen  was  thirty-two 
thousand  acres,  and  a  large  portion  of  it  of  the  best 
quality,  between  two  and  three  thousand  acres  under 
fence  and  good  cultivation.  The  town  of  Harmony  was 
included  in  the  purchase ;  and  this  was  no  ordinary  little 
western  town.  It  consisted  of  several  brick  and  frame 
two-story  houses,  for  the  use  of  small   families,  all   built 


28o     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

after  one  model,  and  with  ample  gardens,  well  fenced  in, 
and  neatly  cultivated ;  and  a  vast  number  of  log-cabins, 
then  inhabited  and  neatly  kept.  There  were  also  five  or 
six  very  large  brick -buildings,  three  stories  high,  which 
contained  the  community  families,  of  sixty  to  eighty  indi- 
viduals each;  Rapp's  large  brick-mansion;  a  very  large 
building  called  the  granary,  built  of  the  most  solid 
masonry;  and  a  very  large  brick -church,  itself  a  curi- 
osity, the  plan,  it  was  said,  being  given  to  Father  George 
Rapp  in  a  dream.  There  were  four  entrances  to  the 
church,  each  entrance  closed  by  lofty  folding-doors;  the 
doors  are  opposite,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet 
from  each  other.  The  upper  story  is  supported  by 
twenty  -  eight  pillars  of  walnut,  cherry,  and  sassafras. 
The  walnut  were  six  feet  in  circumference  and  twenty- 
five  feet  high;  the  others  were  twenty-one  feet  high,  with 
proportionate  circumference;  a  surprisingly  large  building 
for  this  new  country.  There  was  a  very  large  water-mill 
at  the  cut-off,  about  a  mile  from  town,  complete  and  in 
full  operation;  an  oil-mill;  the  shops  of  the  various  trades 
— as  blacksmiths',  wheelwrights',  coopers',  carpenters',  tan- 
nery, shoemakers,  etc. — all  included;  with  two  magnifi- 
cent orchards  of  grafted  fruit  in  full  bearing,^  and  two 
extensive  vineyards.  The  whole  land  and  town  for  one 
hundred  and  thirty-two  thousand  dollars.  There  was  an 
after  purchase — such  as  the  stocks  and  tools  of  various 
trades,  and  a  considerable  amount  of  live-stock,  altogether 
amounting  to  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Thus  did  the  whole 
possessions  of  the  German  Harmonites  change  hands;  and 
what  was  the  property  of  Rapp  and  his  associates,  became 
the  property  of  Robert  Owen. 


RAPP'S   COMMUNITY.  28  I 

This  singular  community  of  Germans  had  httle  or  no 
communication  with  the  people  of  the  surrounding  coun- 
try, excepting  through  the  miller,  store-keeper,  tavern- 
keeper,  and  their  secular  head,  Frederick  Rapp,  the 
adopted  son  of  old  George  Rapp,  their  spiritual  leader, 
and  founder  of  the  society.  All  who  went  to  Harmony, 
with  surprise,  observed  with  what  facility  the  necessaries 
and  the  comforts  of  life  were  acquired  and  enjoyed  by 
every  member  of  Rapp's  community.  When  compared 
with  the  privations  and  discomforts  to  which  individual 
settlers  were  exposed  in  their  backwood's  experiences, 
the  contrast  was  very  striking.  The  poor  hunter  that 
brought  a  bushel  of  corn  to  be  ground,  perhaps  from  a 
distance  of  ten  miles,  saw,  with  wonder,  the  people,  as 
poor  as  himself,  inhabiting  good  houses,  surrounded  by 
pleasant  gardens,  completely  clothed  in  garments  of  the 
best  quality,  supplied  regularly  with  meal,  meat,  and  fuel, 
without  any  apparent  individual  exertion.  He  could  not 
fail  to  contrast  the  comforts  and  conveniences  surround- 
ing the  dwellings  of  the  Harmonites  with  the  dirt,  deso- 
lation, and  discomforts  of  his  own  log-hut.  It  opened  to 
his  mind  a  new  train  of  thought.  One  of  them  said  to 
me,  in  his  own  simple  language,  'T  studies  and  I  studies 
on  it" — an  expression  that  depicts  the  feelings  of  every 
person  that  obtained  a  sight  of  Rapp's  German  commu- 
nity at  Harmony.  Rapp — his  people  and  their  language 
— departed;  Mr.  Owen,  now  the  sole  proprietor  of  all  the 
possessions  of  its  former  owners,  spoke  to  the  people  in 
a  language  they  could  understand. 

Nothing  could  be  more  opposite  than  the  systems  pur- 


282     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

sued  by  the  two  distinguished  leaders,  on  the  same  field 
of  operation.  Whatever  might  be  the  merits  of  Rapp's 
community,  an  avoidance  of  intercourse  between  the  mass 
of  its  members  and  all  outside  barbarians  was  strictly 
maintained;  and  dissimilarity  of  language  presented  a 
complete  bar  to  prying  curiosity  from  without. 

Mr.  Owen  proposed  his  plans  and  gave  his  lectures  and 
discourses,  not  only  to  those  of  his  own  opinions,  but  to 
all  that  chose  to  come  and  hear  him.  Mr.  Owen,  who  was 
very  powerful  in  colloquy,  seldom  lost  an  opportunity  of 
explaining,  what  was  then  called,  his  new  system  of  socie- 
ty. Discussion  would  arise;  his  system,  doctrines,  and 
their  probable  consequences  were  all  discussed,  fully  criti- 
cised, and  often  warmly  opposed.  Mr.  Owen  possessed  so 
steady  a  temper,  that  no  attack,  however  violent  and  per- 
sonal, could  disturb  it.  The  equanimity  of  his  deportment, 
the  quiet  flow  of  argument,  the  steady  and  unaltered  tone 
of  his  voice,  I  never  knew  to  be  ruffled  by  the  most  violent 
language  and  the  sometimes  hasty  imputations  of  his 
opponent.  Mr.  Owen  made  a  short  visit  to  me  and  to  my 
father,  and  took  a  brief  view  of  our  Settlement.  During 
the  evenings  large  numbers  of  settlers  would  call  in  to  see 
and  converse  with  him.  It  was  about  Christmas  time,  and 
the  season  was  unusually  warm  and  fine.  On  Christmas 
day,  1824,  Mr.  Owen  delivered  an  extended  and  extempo- 
raneous address  to  the  citizens  of  Albion,  assembled  in  the 
open  air  on  the  public-square  of  the  town.  For  the  accom- 
modation of  the  people,  chairs  and  benches  were  arranged 
in  a  semicircle.  These  discussions  produced  some  effect, 
and  some  of  our  citizens  went  to  Harmony,  in  the  hope  of 


NEW   HARMONY   UNDER    ROBERT   OWEN.  283 

realizing  some  portion  of  the  happier  future  predicted  by 
Mr.  Owen.  Some  came  back,  and  are  prosperous  citizens 
in  the  vicinity  of  Albion ;  some  remained,  and  are  prosper- 
ous citizens  of  Harmony. 

We  need  not  be  surprised  at  the  care  with  which  Rapp 
tried  to  keep  his  community  from  general  intercourse. 
Notwithstanding  their  strong  religious  bond,  it  is  very 
doubtful  if  Rapp's  society  could  have  been  kept  together 
if  they  had  spoken  English.  During  this  visit,  Mr.  Fred- 
erick Rapp  came  to  see  Mr.  Owen,  and  in  my  house  the 
bargain  which  transferred  the  property  was  consummated- 
On  this  occasion,  Frederick  Rapp  was  accompanied  by 
his  niece,  Gertrude  Rapp,  then  a  young  lady  of  some 
seventeen  years,  in  the  full  bloom  of  health  and  youthful 
beauty,  now  I  believe  Miss  Rapp  is  the  only  representative 
of  the  family  of  Rapp  living  at  Economy. 

Among  the  endless  variety  of  people  that  flocked  around 
Mr.  Owen  were  some  eminent  in  art,  literature,  and  sci- 
ence. This  gave  to  Harmony  a  pre-eminence  in  character 
and  attractions  to  many  neighboring  towns. 

That  the  material  wants  of  man  can  be  procured  in 
profusion  without  anxiety  or  injurious  labor,  has  been 
satisfactorily  proved  by  Rapp's  community,  by  the  Shak- 
ers, Moravians,  and  other  well-organized  communities. 
Following  this  idea,  Mr.  Owen  argued,  that  if  the  mentla 
powers  of  man,  well  trained  and  developed  from  his  earliest 
infancy,  were  also  organized  for  the  public  weal,  all  the 
evils  existing  in  our  present  form  of  society  would  vanish, 
as  completely  as  destitution  and  want  have  vanished  from 
the  communities  above  named.  Whether  this  happy  con- 
summation is  ever  to  be  attained  is  yet  doubtful. 


284     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

Although  Mr.  Owen  failed  to  make  his  community,  the 
doctrines  he  taught  and  the  opinions  he  promulgated 
spread  far  and  wide.  Accepted  by  some  with  fervor, 
opposed  and  denounced  by  more,  they  nevertheless  were 
in  a  fragmentary  way  accepted  by  a  vast  many.  This  we 
saw  in  after  years,  when  indiscriminate  opposition  to  all 
that  Mr.  Owen  said  had  ceased.  The  halls  of  legislation, 
the  courts  of  law,  and  the  family  government  have  been 
modified  and  influenced  by  the  opinions  promulgated  by 
Mr.  Robert  Owen  in  the  early  days  of  his  Harmony  com- 
munity, followed  up  by  the  after- efforts  of  his  son,  Mr. 
Robert  Dale  Owen,  in  the  State  legislature. 

A  father  of  a  family,  a  religious  man,  opposed  to  most 
of  Mr.  Owen's  opinions,  said  to  me:  "Well,  in  one  thing  I 
think  he  is  right  —  in  the  treatment  of  children  —  and  I 
shall  leave  off  whipping." 

Mr.  Owen  wished  to  carry  on  this  first  successful  step  of 
Rapp's  a  step  or  two  farther.  He  argued,  that  when  peo- 
ple were  relieved  from  anxiety  and  toils,  now  often  endured 
by  parents  in  the  support  of  a  family,  every  child  might 
receive  the  best  education  and  training.  If  all  the  evils 
now  inflicted  on  society  from  want,  suffering,  neglected 
education,  and  bad  training  were  removed,  there  could  not 
be  much  left  to  complain  of;  and  there  would  be  no  longer 
any  necessity  for  enduring  that  formidable  power  called 
Government — under  all  its  forms  a  combination  of  re- 
straint, tyranny,  and  corruption,  now  found  necessary  to 
suppress,  by  its  superior  force  of  combination,  the  numer- 
ous individual  crimes  engendered  in  our  present  organiza- 
tion of  society ;  that  if  the  community  would  only  go  on 


RAPP'S   SYSTEM — OWEN'S   SYSTEM.  285 

and  apply  its  powerful  combination  to  supply  man's 
intellectual  wants,  as  it  had  already  supplied  most  of  his 
physical  wants,  all  the  great  evils  of  which  we  complain 
would  cease. 

Rapp  appeared  to  be  content  in  supplying  physical 
necessities,  so  far  as  house,  clothing,  food,  and  fuel,  and  in 
checkinsf  those  moral  evils  which  arise  from  their  want,  or 
an  indiscriminate  scramble  to  obtain  them.  Other  evils  he 
thought  must  be  endured,  and  compensation  looked  for  in 
another  world.  There  were  some  in  Rapp's  society,  it  was 
said,  who  had  higher  aspirations.  But  Rapp  was  content 
with  what  they  had  already  gained,  and  discouraged  inno- 
vation; probably  from  a  fear  of  losing  what  they  had 
already  obtained.  "In  effect,"  he  said,  "the  plan  can  not 
be  improved;  be  content  with  what  you  have  got,  go  on  as 
you  are  going  on — do  yoiL  do  all  the  working  and  /  will  do 
all  the  praying."  As  to  children,  he  told  them  they  had 
better  not  have  any.  Rapp  was  probably  right,  to  a  soci- 
ety of  such  moderate  aspirations,  and  who  were  so  well 
schooled  in  resignation  to  a  certain  class  of  evils.  The 
plan  could  not  be  improved ;  it  was  perfect  as  far  as  it 
went. 

Owen  said— "Go  on.  You  have  banished  many  incon- 
veniences and  evils  already,  and  this  should  encourage  you 
to  proceed;  apply  the  same  power  of  combination  and  do 
more.  Have  children,  as  many  as  you  can  bring  up,  edu- 
cate, and  properly  train.  Attend  to  their  health,  and  make 
them  strong  men;  to  their  intellect,  and  make  them  wise 
men;  to  the  supplying  all  their  wants,  and  make  them 
happy  men.     You  will  find  that  temperance  in  all  gratifi- 


286    .ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

cation  attains  the  maximum  of  enjoyment.  Be  as  happy 
as  you  can  here,  and  the  better  qualified  will  you  be  for 
happiness  hereafter."  So,  in  effect,  said  Owen;  but  his 
views  were  not  carried  out  in  the  way  he  desired  them  to 
be.  The  materials  that  gathered  around  him  were  proba- 
bly too  dissimilar  and  heterogeneous  to  be  formed  into  a 
community  of  any  kind. 

From  Mr.  Owens'  addresses  and  publications  we  learned 
his  opinions  and  intentions.  We  knew  the  Harmonites 
from  our  dealings  at  their  store,  and  what  we  saw  in  our 
frequent  visits  to  the  town.  In  business  they  were  punc- 
tual and  honest.  Industry  and  order  were  apparent  every- 
where. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

The  Emigration  to  the  Settlement  Recommences — The  Character  of 
the  New  Emigrants — The  Crackles  Brothers — Mr.  Joseph  Apple- 
gath — The  Good  Farms  about  Albion — The  Courts  at  Albion — 
Attended  by  Eminent  Men — Judge  ^A^ilson,  Edwin  B.  Webb, 
Col.  Wm.  H.  Davidson,  Gen.  John  M.  Robinson,  John  McLean, 
and  Henry  Eddy— Their  Visits  to  Mr.  Flower— "A  Good  Supper 
and  a  Bowl  of  Punch" — Dreary  Travel  to  Vandalia — Bear-Meat 
and  Venison — An  Enormous  Elk,  the  Patriarch  of  the  Prairies — 
The  Wrestling -Match  between  Indians  and  W^hite  Men  —  The 
Indians  "Down"  the  Pale  Faces. 

After  the  check  given  to  emigration,  from  causes 
before  mentioned,  the  tide  began  to  flow  again.  Individu- 
als and  famihes  were  frequently  arriving,  and  occasionally 
a  party  of  thirty  and  forty.  A  fresh  cause  induced  this 
tide  of  emigration.  It  arose  from  the  private  correspond- 
ence of  the  first  poor  men  who  came.  Having  done  well 
themselves,  and  by  a  few  years  of  hard  labor  acquired 
more  wealth  than  they  ever  expected  to  obtain,  they  wrote 
home  to  friend  or  relative  an  account  of  their  success. 
These  letters  handed  round  in  the  remote  villages  of  Eng- 
land, in  which  many  of  them  lived,  reached  individuals  in 
a  class  to  whom  information  in  a  book  form  was  wholly 
inaccessible.  Each  letter  had  its  scores  of  readers,  and, 
passing  from  hand  to  hand,  traversed  its  scores  of  miles. 
The  writer,  known  at  home  as  a  poor  man,  earning  perhaps 
a  scanty  subsistence  by  his  daily  labor,  telling  of  the  wages 


288      ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

he  received,  his  bountiful  living,  of  his  own  farm  and  the 
number  of  his  live-stock,  produced  a  greater  impression  in 
(he  limited  circle  of  its  readers  than  a  printed  publication 
had    the    power  of   doing.      His  fellow-laborer  who  heard 
these  accounts,  and  feeling  that  he  was  no  better  off  than 
when  his  fellow-laborer  left  him   for  America,  now  exerted 
every  nerve,  to  come  and  do  likewise.     Among  the  many 
that  came,  induced  by  this  sort  of  information,  were  three 
brothers,    Thomas,    Kelsey,    and    Joseph    Crackles,    three 
Lincolnshire  men — a  fine  specimen  of  English  farm-labor- 
ers,  well   skilled   in   every  description  of   farm- labor,  and 
particularly  in  the  draining  of  land.     They  lived  with  me 
for  three   years  after  their  arrival.     They  soon  got   good 
farms  of  their  own;    or,   I  should  rather  say,  made  good 
farms   for   themselves.      I    heard    an    American    neighbor 
remark,  on  the  first  farm  they  bought,  that  nobody  could 
ever  raise  a  crop  or  get  a  living  from  it.     It  had  not  been 
in  their  possession  two  years,  before  it  became  noted  for  its 
excellent  cultivation  and  abundant  crops.     In  this  way  we 
have  given  to  Illinois  a  valuable  population,  men  that  are 
a  great  acquisition  to  the  Country.     It  was  observed  that 
these  emigrants  who  came  in  the  second  emigration,  from 
five  to  ten  years  after  the  first  settlement,  complained  more 
of  the  hardships  of  the  country  than  those  who  came  first. 
These  would  complain  of  a  leaky  roof,  or  a  broken  fence, 
and   all   such   inconveniences.      The   first- comers   had   no 
cabins  or  fences  to  complain  of;  with  them  it  was  conquer 
or  die.     And  thus  emigrants  came  dropping  in  from  year 
to  year.  ' 

We   received    a   valuable   settler   in   the   person   of   Mr. 


JOSEPH   APPLEGATH.  289 

Joseph  Applegath.  Mr.  Applegath  was  a  bookseller  in 
London,  a  man  of  good  education  and  general  informa- 
tion. He  came  out  with  the  intention  of  joining  Mr. 
Owen's  community  at  Harmony.  That  failing,  he  took 
his  apprenticeship  in  country  life  in  our  Settlement.  He 
was  a  striking  instance  with  what  comparative  ease  a  well- 
informed  and  cultivated  man  can  change  his  occupation 
and  even  his  habits  of  life.  From  knowing  nothing  of 
farming  or  country  life  of  any  kind,  for  several  years  he 
followed  it  energetically  and  successfully,  acquiring  the 
habit  of  labor,  which  in  general  seems  to  go  so  hard  with 
those  unaccustomed  to  toil.  One  secret  of  this  was,  he 
had  nothing  to  unlearn,  and  no  prejudices  on  that  subject 
to  eradicate.  He  looked  over  the  fence  of  his  neighbor  to 
see  how  he  did  a  piece  of  work,  and  copied  after  him. 
In  a  few  years  he  retired  from  habitual  labor,  but  not  from 
active  employment;  he  frequently  gave  familiar  lectures 
to  young  people  in  Albion,  on  useful  or  scientific  subjects, 
made  easy  to  their  comprehension  by  his  simple  language 
and  arrangement. 

But  it  was  the  class  of  farm-laborers  and  small-farmers, 
of  whom  I  have  before  spoken,  that  furnished  the  bone 
and  sinew  of  the  Settlement.  Well  instructed  in  all  agri- 
cultural labor,  as  plowmen,  seedsmen,  and  drainers  of  land, 
habituated  to  follow  these  occupations  with  continuous 
industry,  the  result  was  certain  success.  Their  course  was 
a  uniform  progress  and  advance.  Many  of  them  without 
money,  and  some  in  debt  for  their  passage,  they  at  first 
hired  out  at  the  then  usual  price  of  fifty  cents  a-day  with- 
out board,  and  seventy-five  cents  for  hay-time  and  harvest. 

19 


290     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

In  two  or  three  years  they  became  tenants,  or  bought  a 
piece  of  unimproved  Congress-land  at  a  dollar  and  a-quar- 
ter  an  acre,  and  gradually  made  their  own  farms.  Several 
of  them,  now  the  wealthiest  farmers  of  the  county,  earned 
their  first  money  on  my  farm  at  Park  House.  It  is  chiefly 
the  labor  of  these  men,  extending  over  twenty,  thirty,  and 
even  forty  years,  that  has  given  to  the  Settlement  the 
many  fine  farms  to  be  seen  around  Albion. 

Among  the  advantages  of  the  meetings  of  the  courts  of 
law  in  Albion,  not  the  least  were  the  periodical  visits  of 
intelligent  and  educated  men  of  the  legal  profession. 
Hon.  William  Wilson,  a  native  of  Martinsburgh,  Va.,  was, 
when  appointed  to  his  office  of  circuit-judge,  a  very  young 
man.  He  possessed  great  amiability  and  good  sense,  and 
was  extensively  known  through  the  State;  a  good  lawyer 
respected  and  beloved  wherever  known.  Between  him 
and  myself  a  lasting  friendship  existed  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  1857.  He  settled  near  Carmi,  in  White 
Co.,  thirty  miles  south  of  Albion.  Carmi  was  the  home 
of  Edwin  B.  Webb,  Esq.,  so  many  years  the  represen- 
tative of  White  County  in  the  legislature.  Mr.  Webb  was 
one  of  our  best  lawyers,  and  was  always  relied  on  as  such. 
He  had  a  greater  hold  on  the  affections  of  his  many 
friends  and  neighbors,  by  exerting  the  influence  of  his 
position  in  healing  all  breaches,  and  allaying  those  irrita- 

*  Edwin  B.  Webb  of  Carmi,  White  County,  was  one  of  the  best-known 
and  most  influential  Whig  politicians  of  his  day,  in  south-eastern  Illinois.  He 
was  first  elected  to  the  lower  branch  of  the  legislature  from  White  County  in 
1834,  and  reelected  in  1836,  1838,  ,1840.  In  1844,  he  was  elected  to  the 
senate,    from    White  County,   and    reelected   in   1846,  and  finally  closing  his 


WEBB,  DAVIDSON,  ROBINSON,  MCLEAN,  EDDY.       29 1 

tions  which   so   frequently   accompany   legal    disputation. 

Col.  William  H.  Davidson,  for  many  years  in  the  State 
senate,  and  often  its  presiding-officer,  was  much  beloved 
for  the  amenity  of  his  manners  in  public  and  in  private 
life.  Gen.  John  M.  Robinson,  then  a  young  lawyer  riding 
the  circuit,  and  afterward,  for  many  years,  our  senator  in 
Congress — these  two  were  Carmi  men. 

John  McLean,  a  good  lawyer,  a  loud  speaker,  of  sterling 
good  sense,  and  blunt  and  somewhat  boisterous  manners, 
was  the  most  popular  lawyer  in  the  earliest  days  of  the 
State.  A  native  of  Kentucky,  he  was  afterward  sent  to 
Congress.*  Henry  Eddy,  long  the  editor  of  the  Shawnee- 
town  Gazette,  was  a  good  lawyer,  and  a  most  kind-hearted 

legislative  service  in  1S48,  which  was  continuous  from  1834  to  1848,  with  the 
exception  of  two  years,  from  1S42  to  1844.  I  knew  Mr.  Webb  well.  He 
was  a  well-lcnown  figure  in  Springfield  for  many  years.  He  was  a  little  under 
the  middling  height,  always  dressing  genteelly,  and  of  pleasant  and  agree- 
able manners.  A  native  of  Kentucky,  he  was  a  devoted  friend  of  Henry  Clay, 
and  was  the  Whig  candidate  for  Governor  of  Illinois  in  1852.  At  the  break- 
ing up  of  the  old  Whig  party,  Mr.  Webb  declined  entering  into  the  Republi- 
can party,  and  joined  the  Democrats.  He  was  always  called  "Bat"  Webb, 
from  his  middle  name,  Bathurst.  He  died  at  his  home  in  Carmi,  in  the  fall 
of  1858,  universally  beloved  and  regretted. 

*  John  McLean  was,  undoubtedly,  the  ablest  and  most  influential  man  in 
Illinois  at  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was  elected  United  States  senator  in 
1825,  to  succeed  Ninian  Edwards,  who  had  resigned  to  accept  the  position  of 
minister  to  Mexico.  Having  served  out  .the  term  of  Gov.  Edwards,  of  only 
a  few  months,  Elias  Kent  Kane  was  elected  his  successor  for  the  long  term. 
In  1829,  Mr.  McLean  was  elected  for  six  years,  to  succeed  Jesse  B.  Thomas. 
He  died,  however,  shortly  after  the  commencement  of  his  term  of  service,  in 
1830.  Had  he  lived,  he  would  have  left  an  indelible  impress  upon  the  history 
of  the  State. 

Mr.  McLean  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  from  Gallatin 
County  from  i820,to  1822,  and  of  which  he  was  made  speaker.  He  was  also 
a  member  from  1826  to  1828,  and  from  1828  to  1830.  He  was  speaker  of 
the  House  both  sessions,  and  elected  senator  while  holding  the  office  in  1829. 


292     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

and  benevolent  man,  universally  respected  and  beloved.* 
Judge  Hall  (afterward  known  as  the  editor  of  the  Illinois 
Monthly  Magazine)  was  also  a  practising  lawyer,  with  a ' 
reputation  for  literary  talent.  Judge  Thomas  C.  Browne 
was  associated  with  Judge  Wilson,  on  the  bench  of  the 
supreme  court.  These  were  all  residents  of  Shawneetown, 
and  usually  made  the  tour  of  our  circuit. 

The  law  business,  being  small  in  those  days,  allowed  of 
an  early  adjournment  of  court,  giving  time  for  friendly 
intercourse.  They  generally  favored  our  family  with  a 
visit.  Those  of  them  that  \uere  farmers,  as  well  as  law- 
yers, would  generally  spend  a  day  with  me,  in  looking  at 
live-stock  and  crops,  discussing  farming  matters  generally. 
In  the  evening,  several  other  friends  would  join  the  party; 
the  conversation,  unrestrained,  was  generally  free  and  good- 
humored.  The  hilarity  was  by  no  means  checked  by  a 
good  supper  and  a  bowl  of  punch.  After  tales  of  adven- 
ture in  their  wild  and  widely-extended  circuit,  varied  con- 
versation, anecdote,  and  song,  the  party  would  retire,  at  a 
late  hour  generally,  to  meet  again  six  months  afterward. 

The  opening  of  the  legislature  at  Vandalia,  and  the  ses- 

*  Henry  Eddy  of  Shawneetown,  was  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  prominent 
lawyers  of  his  time  in  the  State.  I  can  not  recall  that  he  was  ever  in  politi- 
cal life,  except  being  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  from  Galla- 
tin County  from  1820  to  1822,  when  he  was  the  colleague  of  John  McLean. 
He  was  an  anti-convention  man  in  the  great  struggle  in  1823-4,  and  the  editor 
of  the  SluVi^nicctown  Sprctator.  Like  Mr.  Webb  of  Carmi,  he  was  one  of  the 
prominent  Whig  politicians  in  the  south-eastern  part  of  the  State.  A  man  of 
education  and  intelligence,  he  was  distinguished  by  his  courteous  manners  anil 
gentlemanly  bearing.  He  was  elected  judge  of  the  third  circuit  in  January, 
1835,  but  resigned  the  next  month.  No  county  in  this  State  ever  had  two 
abler  men  in  the  Legislature,  at  the  same  time,  than  when  Henry  Eddy  and 
John  McLean  represented  Gallatin  in  1S20  and  1S22. 


•  DREARY   JOURNEYS.  293 

sion  of  the  supreme  court,  about  the  8th  of  December, 
occasioned  long  and  dreary  journeys  to  those  obHged  to 
attend  from  the  southern  part  of  the  State.  The  lawyers 
from  Shavvneetown,  joining  those  at  Carmi,  would  proceed 
to  some  point  west  of  the  Little  Wabash,  generally  at 
Ramsey's  station,  and  wait  a  little  for  any  that  might  join 
them  from  Albion.  I  occasionally  made  one  of  the  party. 
The  distance  from  cabin  to  cabin  was  often  from  twenty 
to  thirty  miles.  The  host,  on  these  occasions,  was  usually 
one  of  the  earliest  pioneers,  who  had  pushed  in  among  the 
red  men  and  brown  bears  of  the  wilderness.  After  a 
supper  of  bear-meat  and  venison,  the  large  log  in  the  ten- 
foot  chimney  was  set  blazing  afresh  with  brushwood.  A 
large  circle  was  formed  in  front,  and  we  heard  from  our 
host  some  of  his  exciting  or  amusing  adventures  with  wild 
men  and  wild  beasts. 

At  the  house  of  one  of  these  men,  a  noted  character  of 
that  day — John  Lewis  of  the  trace — said  that  he  had  seen, 
in  his  hunts,  the  tracks  of  an  enormous  elk.  For  months 
of  search,  he  had  failed  to  get  sight  of  the  gigantic  animal 
that  had  made  these  tracks  of  such  unusual  size.  The 
fortunate  day  came  at  last.  Himself  concealed  by  a  point 
of  wood,  the  huge  animal  appeared  in  full  view,  grazing  in 
the  open  prairie.  Mustering  all  his  wood-craft  for  con- 
cealment and  approach,  he  succeeded  in  bringing  down 
the  animal  at  the  first  shot.  He  produced  the  horns;  when 
set  on  their  prongs,  a  tall  man  could  walk  under  them 
without  touching.  This  patriarch  of  the  prairies  met  his 
death  in  18 18  or  18 19. 

Upon  another  occasion,  at  the  same  house,  a  party  of 


294     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

Indians,  accompanied  by  their  agent,  arrived.     They  were 
from  some  tribe  far  distant  in  the  interior,  on  their  way  to 
Washington.     They   were   regarded   with   some   curiosity, 
and  much  admired  as  a  fine  specimen  of  their  race — tall, 
thin,  muscular  men,  of  delicate  features,  with  small  hands 
and  feet.     There  happened  to  be  present,  a  party  of  back- 
woods-hunters, men  of  strong-set  frames,  used  to  fights  of 
every  description,  and  noted  good  wrestlers.     Their  num- 
ber being  equal  to  that  of  the  Indians,  some  one  expressed 
the  wish  to  see  a  friendly  combat  or  trial  of  strength  in  a 
wrestling-match,  to  see  who  could  throw  the  other.     With 
the  consent  of  the  agent,  who  explained   to  the  Indians 
the    nature  of  the   proposal,  the   arrangement    was   soon 
made.     Weapons  being  carefully  removed  from  both  par- 
ties, they  met  man  to  man.     To  the  astonishment  of  the 
spectators,  the   Indians   threw  all  their  antagonists,  again 
and  again,  and  with  such  dexterity  and  apparent  ease,  that 
the  white   men   could   never  get  an  opportunity  to  close 
with  them. 

In  journeying  alone  or  in  company,  great  risks  were  run 
from  floods,  loss  of  way,  and  sudden  change  of  tempera- 
ture, especially  in  the  winter  season.  Judge  Wilson,  Mr. 
S.  D.  Lockwood,'  and  Mr.  Henry  Eddy  of  Shawneetown, 
undertook  to  reach  Vandalia  from  one  of  the  counties  on 
the  Wabash,  a  little  north  of  us.  The  distance  by  section 
lines  was  about  sixty  miles,  across  the  country,  through 
prairie  and  timber,  without  road  or  track  of  any  kind — no 
kind  of  habitation,  not  even  the  humblest  cabin  in  the 
way. 

Wilson  took  the  lead,   as  the   best   woodsman.      They 


A   TERRIBLE   NIGHT   IN   THE   PRAIRIE.  295 

continued  *to  ride  the  whole  of  a  fine  winter's  day  without 
seeing  man  or  his  abode.  Toward  evening,  the  weather 
changed ;  it  became  very  cold,  with  the  wind  blowing  in 
their  faces  a  heavy  fall  of  snow.  In  this  predicament, 
without  food  or  fire,  there  was  but  one  alternative  when 
night  came  on.  Each  man  seated  himself  on  his  saddle, 
placed  on  the  ground,  with  the  saddle-blanket  over  his 
head  and  shoulders,  holding  by  the  bridles  their  naked 
and  shivering  horses.  It  continued  to  snow  for  hours. 
For  a  long  time  they  sat  in  this  condition,  thinking  they 
should  all  freeze  to  death  before  morning.  They  afterward 
tied  their  horses,  and  spread  a  blanket  on  the  ground  near 
a  fallen  tree,  and  then  squatted  down  close  together — 
Lockwood  in  the  middle— and  thus  they  spent  the  long 
and  dismal  night. 

In  the  morning,  they  proceeded  as  they  best  could; 
before  noon,  reached  the  east  bank  of  the  Kaskaskia 
River,  then  booming  full,  at  flood  water.  They  all  had 
to  swim  their  horses  across,  Wilson  again  taking  the  lead. 
Dripping  wet,  all  three  rode  into  Vandalia,  in  the  midst  of 
the  frost  and  snow  of  mid-winter.  Lockwood,  a  confirmed 
invalid  of  some  chronic  disease,  resigned  himself  to  cer- 
tain death.  Extraordinary  to  relate,  the  disease  from  that 
time  left  him,  and  he  lived  to  be,  and  is,  I  believe,  yet 
living,  a  sound  and  healthy  man. 

When  I  look  back  at  the  inconveniences  and  perils  of 
our  journeys  in  the  early  days  of  our  residence  in  Illinois, 
I  wonder  that  any  of  us  are  alive  to  relate  them. 

Apart  from  accidents,  a  journey  then  required  the  ex- 
penditure of  all  our  strength.      Horseback  was  the  only 


296     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

mode.  To  bear  the  excessive  heat  of  a  summer's  sun,  over 
the  exposed  prairies,  from  early  dawn  till  night,  or,  to 
reverse  the  order  of  our  habits,  to  escape  the  torments  of 
the  prairic-fly,  by  traveling  all  night  and  lying  by  during- 
the  day;  or  to  be  overtaken  by  night  in  the  midst  of  win- 
ter, crouching  on  the  frozen  ground,  without  fire  or  shelter,, 
are  incidents  that  try  the  constitution.  But  of  all  the 
dangers  of  backwoods -traveling,  those  of  crossing  swollen 
streams  and  river-bottoms  deeply  flooded,  with  the  surface 
of  the  water  covered  with  floating  or  with  solid  ice,  are 
the  greatest.  To  be  floundering  in  water  of  uncertain 
depth,  the  horse  sometimes  wading  and  sometimes  swim- 
ming, obstructed,  too,  by  floating  logs  and  ice,  produces 
sensations  not  at  all  agreeable. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

Long  Horseback  Excursions — The  Cabin  Found— Island  Grove — The 
Tempest — A  Horrible  Night — ^John  Ganaway's  Roadside-Cabin— 
A  Good  Breakfast — Hugh  Ronalds'  Adventure  —  Narrowly  Es- 
capes Death — Long  Journey  by  Wagon  —  The  Delights  of  that 
Mode  of  Travel  — Health  and  Spirits  Renewed  — Travel  of  that 
Day  and  the  Present  Day  Contrasted  —  Mr.  Hulme's  Journey — 
Mr.  Applegath's,  Bishop  Chase's,  and  Mr.  Kleinworth's  —  The 
First  Crops  and  Cabins— The  Progress  Year  by  Year— The  Peach- 
Orchard— A  Happy  Life  — Children  Growing  Up— "Edward's  Or- 
chard "—The  Herding  of  Sheep— The  Boys  and  Girls— A  Charm- 
ing Picture  of  Rural  Life— The  Hospitable  Home— Lingering  on 
the  Porch— The  \A^elcome  Guests— The  Lost  Child— The  Finding 
and  the  Rejoicings  —  The  ^A/ild  Animals,  \A/^olves,  Bears,  and 
Panthers  — The  Panther— The  Wolf-Chase  — Savage  Fight  be- 
tween Man  and  Wolf. 

Sometimes,  when  not  accompanied  by  gentlemen,  my 
wife  gave  me  her  company  in  these  horseback  excursions 
into  the  interior  of  the  State;  and  those  journeys  are,  to 
this  day,  among  the  happiest  recollections  of  my  prairie 
life.  One  of  these  journeys  is  so  characteristic  of  the  time 
and  country,  as  it  then  was,  that  I  will  give  it: 

Each  of  us  well  mounted,  and  equipped  with  well-filled 
saddle-bags,  we  started  northward,  on  a  fine  July  morning. 
For  the  first  twenty  miles,  the  country  was  se'ttled  thinly 
— six  or  eight  miles  between  cabins.  North  of  the  trace, 
leading  from  Vincennes  to  St.  Louis,  the  country  was  yet 
more  thinly  settled  —  from  ten   to  twenty  miles  between 


298      ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

house  and  house.  We  had  difficulty  in  finding  the  httle 
cabin  we  were  in  search  of,  for  our  first  night's  lodging, 
and  but  for  a  small  column  of  blue  smoke,  betraying  its 
locality  in  a  small  clump  of  brushwood,  vv^e  should  have 
passed  it  by.  When  found,  it  was  of  the  smallest  class  of 
cabins.  After  a  supper  of  corn-bread,  milk,  and  venison, 
we  rested  for  the  night  on  one 'of  the  two  beds,  the  whoel 
family  taking  to  the  other. 

Before  mounting,  the  next  morning,  we  were  struck  with 
the  occupation  of  our  host.  He  was  greasing  his  wagon 
with  good  fresh  butter.  He  might  as  well  do  so,  he  said, 
for  when  he  took  it  to  Lawrenceville,  ten  miles  distant,  he 
could  only  get  five  cents  a  pound  for  it,  and  that  in  trade. 
After  riding  across  a  prairie  for  about  twelve  miles,  our 
horses  being  much  tormented  by  the  prairie-flies,  we  rested 
for  some  hours  at  a  house  in  a  point  of  timber,  the  last 
timber  we  should  meet  in  a  day's  journey.  About  five  in 
the  afternoon,  we  mounted  again.  The  direction  we  trav- 
eled, with  scarcely  the  indication  of  a  track,  was  due  north, 
keeping  the  timber  about  two  miles  to  the  right.  A  few 
miles  ahead,  and  a  little  to  our  left,  stood  a  grove  of  tim- 
ber, covering  one  section  of  land  in  the  open  prairie.  It 
was  appropriately  called  Island  Grove. 

Clouds,  black  and  portentous,  had  been  long  threaten- 
ing. The  rain  came  down  in  torrents.  The  north  wind 
blew  in  our  faces  with  such  violence,  that,  for  a  time,  the 
horses  could  not  face  the  storm.  We  had  to  allow  them 
to  turn  round.  Pursuing  our  way  northward,  night  over- 
took us.  The  feeble  rays  of  a  young  moon  added  but 
dreariness   to   the   scene.      The  wind,  growing   more   and 


PERILS   OF   TRAVEL.  299 

more  cold,  pierced  through  our  wet  garments.  It  was 
about  nine  at  night  when  we  came  to  the  track  of  the 
National  Road,  just  being  laid  out  and  worked.  This 
greatly  relieved  our  anxious  watchings;  for  we  feared 
that  we  had  passed  over  it,  and  were  wandering  north- 
ward in  the  interminable  prairie.  Following  its  course 
westward,  we  were  suddenly  arrested  by  a  broad  sheet  of 
water,  which  we  dared  not  enter  and  could  not  go  round. 

The  moon  set.  We  were  in  darkness.  Wet  through, 
exposed  to  a  keen  north-wind,  without  the  slightest  shel- 
ter, we  stood  by  the  side  of  our  horses  and  waited  the 
termination  of  this  dreary  night.  I,  at  length,  yielded  to 
sleep,  on  the  wet  and  sodden  ground.  My  wife,  with 
greater  resolution,  kept  watch  on  foot,  holding  the  horses' 
bridles  in  her  hand,  sometimes  putting  her  fingers  under 
the  saddles  to  catch  a  little  warmth,  and  sometimes  wak- 
ing me  from  what  she  feared  might  be  a  fatal  slumber. 
One  sound  only  was  heard  during  these  hours  of  dreary 
darkness,  the  dismal  howl  of  a  solitary  wolf.  At  break-of- 
day,  so  stiff  and  cold  were  we,  that  we  could  with  difficulty 
mount  our  horses.  Both  ourselves  and  horses  shook  and 
trembled  as  with  an  ague. 

We  had  to  proceed  about  six  miles,  through  mud  and 
water,  before  reaching  a  small  roadside- cabin,  kept  by 
John  Ganaway.  A  good  breakfast,  and  two  hours  sleep, 
set  all  to  rights,  and  we  proceeded  on  our  way,  none  the 
worse  for  our  late  exposure.  Such  incidents  were  of  com- 
mon occurrence  to  travelers  on  the  prairies  in  those  days. 

These  encounters  with  the  elements  were  not  always  so 
happily  got  through,  especially  in  the  winter  season.     Mr. 


300     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

Hugh  Ronalds  and  his  young  son  were  travehng  on  the 
prairies,  about  thirty  miles  north-west  of  Albion,  with  a 
covered  carriage  and  a  pair  of  horses,  in  the  winter  season. 
On  coming  to  a  creek  frozen  over,  in  attempting  to  cross 
on  the  ice,  the  horses  broke  in ;  but  the  ice  was  too  strong 
aVid  the  creek  to  deep  to  allow  the  horses  to  get  through. 
It  was  necessary  to  detach  the  horses  from  the  carriage, 
and  to  break  the  ice,  to  allow  the  horses  to  struggle  out 
on  the  opposite  bank ;  in  doing  which,  Mr.  Ronalds 
became  wet  to  his  middle.  Before  he  could  arrange  the 
harness  on  the  horses,  his  clothes  became  quite  stiff,  his  legs 
seemed  to  be  incased  in  boards.  A  house  near  the  creek, 
the  view  of  which  was  an  additional  inducement  to  risk  the 
crossing,  was  found  to  be  entirely  deserted.  No  fire  or 
the  means  of  making  any.  Under  these  circumstances, 
it  became  a  struggle  for  life.  Mr.  Ronalds,  becoming  weak 
from  cold  and  suffering,  desired  his  son  (a  lad  of  nine 
years)  to  make  for  a  house,  about  three  miles  across. the 
prairie,  and  send  back  aid  if  he  should  arrive  there.  He, 
with  aid  of  men  and  women,  returned  and  met  his  father. 
Mr.  Ronalds  proceeded  at  a  slow  pace  with  the  horses. 
He  soon  became  insensible.  When  met  by  the  party 
from  the  house,  he  was  st3.nding  between  the  horses,  hold- 
ing on  by  the  harness,  but  nearly  insensible  and  very 
numb.  Covering  him  with  blankets,  and  carrying  him 
when  he  could  no  longer  walk,  they  arrived  at  the  cabin 
and  put  him  to  bed,  stiff  and  unconscious.  It  was  long 
before  friction  and  warmth  induced  circulation  or  sign  of 
life.  The  process  of  freezing,  or  dying,  was  attended  by 
no  remembered  pain;  but,  in  returning  to  life,  he  suffered 
much  agony. 


TRAVEL   IN   THE   OLDEN   TIME.  301 

If  a  family  party  desired  to  make  a  journey  of  some 
distance — say  two  or  three  hundred  miles  —  a  wagon  was 
found  to  be  the  most  safe  and  comfortable  conveyance. 
"Wishing  to  visit  a  friend  who  had  settled  a  few  miles  north 
of  Peoria,  on  the  Illinois  River,  more  than  two  hundred 
miles  distant  from  Park  House,  an  old  friend  and  neigh- 
bor, Capt.  James  Carter,  wishing  to  see  the  country  north, 
accompanied  us,  brought  with  him  a  wagon  and  a  pair  of 
oxen,  to  which  I  added  another  yoke.  This  was  furnished 
with  provisions  and  cooking-utensils,  and  some  bedding. 
My  own  covered  wagon,  drawn  by  two  stout  and  active 
horses,  with  a  driver  sitting  on  the  near  saddle-horse,  con- 
veyed my  family,  two  sons  and  one  daughter,  with  Mrs. 
Flower,  and  an  infant  at  her  breast.  Two  saddle-horses, 
one  furnished  with  a  side-saddle,  for  any  of  us  to  ride  by 
way  of  change,  completed  our  cavalcade.  Proceeding  thus 
leisurely  along,  we  passed  over  some  of  the  most  beautiful 
prairies  in  the  centre  of  the  State.  Pulling  up  at  evening 
near  some  pleasant  grove,  we  lighted  our  camp-fire  and 
cooked  our  evening  meal.  As  the  evening  advanced,  we 
spread  our  blankets  on  the  ground,  and  with  feet  to  the 
fire  took  our  night's  rest.  Breakfast  over  next  morning, 
we  proceeded  onward  through  the  day.  A  fresh  venison 
ham,  milk  from  some  farm-house,  or  a  prairie  fowl,  occa- 
sionally shot  by  one  of  the  party,  gave  us  the  most  whole- 
some and  invigorating  food.  Including  our  short  visit,  we 
were  six  weeks  going  and  returning,  living  day  and  night 
during  our  journey  in  the  open  air.  The  fine  autumn 
weather  continued  with  us  until  the  last  day  of  our  return. 
On  -the  afternoon  of  that  day  we  were  ushered  into  my 


302     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

own  [)ark  gate  by  a  gust  of  sleet  and  rain.  We  all  returned 
with  renewed  health  and  spirits.  Nothing  can  be  imagined 
more  enjoyable  or  was  better  enjoyed.  The  freedom  from 
care,  the  gentle  exercise  in  the  open  air,  the  ever-changing 
scene,  the  varied  beauties  of  the  landscape,  gave  renewed 
health,  appetite,  and  happiness.  On  entering  my  park  and 
pleasant  dwelling,  I  confess  to  a  feeling  of  approaching 
care.  All  had  gone  well  during  our  absence.  But  letters 
were  to  answer,  business  to  attend  to,  my  wife  had  her 
household  cares.  We  were  again  in  harness,  performing 
the  drudgery  of  civilized  life.  These  three  journeys  give 
a  fair  specimen  of  the  primitive  mode  of  traveling  in  the 
early  years  of  our  Settlement  in  Illinois. 

The  difference  in  speed  and  convenience  of  travel  then 
and  now  is  very  striking.  The  mean  time  of  travel  for 
family  parties  from  the  Eastern  cities  to  the  prairies,  in  the 
year  1818,  I  find  to  be  nine  weeks — that  is  for  the  whole 
family  or  parties,  composed  sometimes  of  two  or  three 
families,  with  all  their  plunder.  One  of  the  most  expedi- 
tious and  economical  family-trips  on  record  was  made  by 
Mr.  Hall  and  his  family,  consisting  of  himself,  wife,  and 
seven  children.  The  items  are  therefore  interesting: 
Hire  of  wagon  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburgh,  for 

wife  and  seven  children,  -         -         -         -       $75 

Expenses  for  twelve  persons,  Thomas  and  myself 

walking  all  the  way,  for  thirteen  days,      "     -         -42 
Carriage  of  eleven  hundred  of  heavy  goods,  at  $3 

per  100  lbs.,    -------         33 

Tavern  expenses  at  Pittsburgh,  i  week,  -  -  -  20 
Share  of  ark,  -         -         -         -         -         -         -  .15 


MR.   HULME,    MR.  APPLEGATH,    AND   OTHERS.       303 

Three  days  in  the  ark  and  expenses  to  Shawneetown,       18 
Three  days  in  ark  at  Shawneetown,         _         _         _  ^ 

Wagon-hire    for    the    family   and    baggage   to   the 

prairies,      --------28 

Expenses  four  days  and  ferriages,  -         -         -         -  14 

For  heavy  goods  up  the  Wabash  and  land-carriage 

from  thence,        -         -         -         -         -         -         -i5 


$269 
Time  from  May  7th  to  June  25th. 

Mr.  Hulme,  who  visited  our  Settlement,  and  going  by 
the  quickest  mode  of  travel,  in  his  journal  writes  thus: 
"Pittsburgh,  June  3. — Arrived  here  with  a  friend  as  travel- 
ing-companion, by  the  mail-stage  from  Philadelphia,  after 
a  journey  of  six  days,  having  set  out  on  the  28th  of 
May." 

Mr.  Applegath,  in  1823,  arrived  at  Vincennes  from  the 
city  of  Baltimore  in  ten  days,  then  thought  to  be  very  expe- 
ditious traveling.  In  1859,  Bishop  Whitehouse  reached 
Olney,  Illinois,  from  New  York,  in  two  days  and  a-half,  by 
railroad.  Olney  is  thirty  miles  north  of  Albion,  connected 
by  a  daily  mail-stage.  In  August,  i860,  Mr.  Kleinworth 
arrived  at  his  residence  in  Albion  in  thirteen  days  and  a- 
half,  from  the  city  of  London.  Mr.  Kleinworth  lost  one 
day  and  a-half  by  detention  on  the  road,  so  that  the  time 
of  his  actual  travel  was  but  twelve  days.  •  I  recollect  what 
a  visionary  I  was  thought  thirty  years  ago  for  saying  that 
we  were,  at  a  moderate  rate  of  traveling,  but  three  days 
distant  from  New  York.  Now  that  prediction  is  more 
than  verified,  for  when  no  impediment  occurs  the  distance 
has  been  made  in  less  than  two  days. 


304     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

The  first  two  years  of  settlement  in  a  new  prairie  coun- 
try does  not  present  the  abundance  in  the  field  crops  that 
new-comers  expect  to  see  from  the  accounts  they  have 
heard  of  the  fertility  of  the  soil.  The  first  year's  planting 
on  a  prairie  sod  yields  not  a-third  of  a  crop.  The  second 
year  is  much  better,  but  it  is  not  until  the  third  year  that 
cultivation  and  seasons  have  sufficiently  acted  on  the  soil 
to  allow  it  to  }'ield  its  full  abundance.  'The  houses  and 
cabins  present  too  often  a  naked  and  somewhat  comfort- 
less appearance,  unless  a  little  industry  and  taste  is  dis- 
played in  training  flowers  and  creeping-plants  around 
them.  The  rich  and  venerable  mellowness  of  ivy  and 
moss  will  not  be  attained  for  centuries.  But  the  virgin 
soil  and  hot  sun,  with  the  least  aid  from  an  industrious 
hand,  will  soon  give  floral  ornament  and  cosy  comfort  that 
can  not  be  attained  about  a  house  in  cooler  climates  for 
many  years. 

We  had  long  left  behind  us  the  inconveniences  and 
annoyances  incident  to  first-settlers,  and  were  enjoying  the 
teeming"  abundance  of  a  virgin  soil  under  its  first  cultiva- 
tion,  stimulated  by  a  glowing  climate.  Nothing  could 
gratify  the  farmer  more  than  to  witness  the  progress  of  his 
crops,  for  the  first  fifteen  years  on  the  same  fields  without 
aid  of  manure.  The  deep  green  of  the  maize,  in  its  gigan- 
tic and  rapid  growth,  almost  outstretching  the  capacity  of 
its  own  fibres  in  its  vigorous  shoots  and  rapid  growth,  suc- 
ceeded, in  time  of  harvest,  by  large  heavy  ears,  sometimes 
more  than  a  hundred  bushels  to  the  acre,  and  wagon-loads 
of  yellow  pumpkins  growing  among  the  rows.  Cattle 
increasing   and   thrivuig   in   condition   in   the   range   more 


A    PLEASING    RETROSPECT.  305 

rapidly  than  in  the  finest  clover  pasture,  was  surprising  to 
farmers  from  the  cool  and  gradual  climate  of  England. 

On  my  farm,  the  profuse  bearing  of  a  large  peach- 
orchard,  the  third  year  from  planting  the  stones,  surprised 
and  gratified  me.  Among  these  seedling-trees,  many  pro- 
duced fruit  of  large  size  and  exquisite  flavor.  I  turned  a 
few  of  my  favorite  English  pigs  into  this  orchard.  It  was 
amusing  to  see  the  gluttons  as  they  slowly  walked  along, 
giving  to  an  ordinary  peach  a  contemptuous  turn  with 
their  little  snouts,  not  deigning  to  taste  one  unripe  or 
deficient  in  flavor.  They,  like  ourselves,  were  sated  with 
the  fruit,  scores  of  bushels  lying  rotting  on  the  ground. 
The  two  following  years  were  equally  bountiful.  One 
hard  winter  killed  many  and  diseased  the  remainder  of 
the  trees,  until  at  length  I  could  not  gather  a  peck  of 
peaches  from  the  farm. 

I  have  said  that  I  lived  in  a  world  of  my  own,  and  not 
a  bad  world  either.  My  life  seemed  particularly  felicitous. 
Based  on  domestic  happiness,  and  surrounded  by  abund- 
ance. My  children,  as  they  grew  up,  taking  their  part  of 
the  care  of  the  animals.  At  first,  the  two  eldest  boys, 
after  an  early  breakfast,  provided  by  their  mother,  took 
with  them  dinner,  books,  and  slate,  and  led  the  fine  merino 
flock,  varying  in  number  from  four  hundred  to  a  thousand, 
into  the  prairie,  where  they  stayed  the  whole  day.  As  the 
family  grew  larger,  a  sister  often  went  with  the  brothers. 
A  small  log-house,  with  overhanging  porch  and]|accommo- 
dations  for  their  horses  and  dogs,  was  built  for  them  on  a 
pleasant  hill  overlooking  the  prairie,  close]  by  an  apple- 
orchard,  just  coming  into  bearing,  planted  by  my  young- 
20 


306     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

est  brother  Edward  before  he  went  to  England.  Although 
passed  into  other  hands,  the  spot  is  called  Edward's 
Orchard  unto  this  day. 

During  the  heat  of  the  day,  whilst  the  flocks  were  repos- 
ing in  the  shade  of  the  clumps  of  oaks,  the  children  were 
resting  in  the  cabin,  or,  unconscious  of  fatigue  and  defying 
heat,  were  chasing,  with  their  horses  and  their  dogs,  some 
rabbit  on  the  prairie  or  wildcat  in  a  neighboring  thicket. 
Thus,  with  their  little  house-keeping  establishment,  useful 
employment  in  the  open  air,  cheerful  amusement  with 
their  horses  and  their  dogs,  and  freedom  from  restraint, 
they  had  a  good  time  generally.  Now  no  longer  children, 
but  fathers  and  mothers  of  families,  with  the  cares  and 
anxieties  incident  tq  their  stations,  they  look  back  to  this 
period  as  the  happiest  of  their  lives.  At  evening,  one  of 
their  number  came  to  the  house  to  announce  the  arrival  of 
the  flock  at  the  park  gate.  Myself  or  shepherd,  if  he  was 
in  the  way,  went  to  count  them  in.  .  The  children,  relieved 
of  their  charge,  came  joyously  in,  bringing  rabbit  or  squir- 
rel or  some  trophy  of  the  chase.  After  refreshment  and 
rest,  as  day  closed  in,  the  young  ones  all  sunk  to  sound 
and  happy  slumber. 

In  a  fine  summer's  night,  the  house  and  its  surroundings 
presented  a  picture  of  quietude  and  peace,  enjoyed  by  my- 
self and  wife,  walking  together,  as  we  sometimes  did,  in 
the  early  hours  of  the  night,  when  all  nature,  in  shadow, 
was  reposing  in  silence.  The  beautiful  cattle,  as  they 
quietly  chewed  the  cud,  allowed  us  to  pass  through  them 
undisturbed.  The  flock  of  sheep,  lying  close  together  in 
one  large  clump,  would   begin  to  rise  as  we  approached 


THE   LOST   CHILD.  307 

them,  in  accordance  with  their  more  timid  nature.  The 
refreshing  coolness,  the  profound  silence,  the  repose  and 
security  of  the  animals,  with  the  shadow  of  night  cast  over 
all,  was  by  every  feeling  acknowledged  as  a  grateful  relief, 
from  the  glare,  the  heat,  and  turmoil  of  day. 

Returning  to  the  house,  and  once  more  gazing  on  the 
children  in  their  deep,  unconscious  sleep,  we  would  often, 
while  conversing  in  subdued  tones,  linger  long  in  the  wide 
porch,  enjoying  together  the  sweetest  hours  of  the  twenty- 
four.  More  frequently  we  had  some  company  at  the 
house;  this  being  the  rule,  privacy  the' exception,  was  the 
more  enjoyed.  Occasiona-lly,  a  party  of  neighbors  would 
spend  the  evening  with  us,  but  my  home  was  frequently 
graced  and  enlivened  by  one  or  more  intelligent  strangers, 
either  native  or  foreign  born,  and  this  adds  to  a  home  in 
the  country  a  fresh  light  of  intelligence  and  cheerfulness, 
and  breaks  the  bond  of  prejudice,  which  grows  too  stiff  in 
a  confined  locality.  To  diversify  and  vary  life,  a  few 
adventures,  incidents,  and  accidents  occurred  to  us,  only 
to  be  met  with  by  settlers  in  a  new  country. 

Mr.  Dransfield,  living  about  eight  miles  from  Albion,  on 
the  road  to  the  Wabash,  missed  one  of  his  children,  about 
three  years  of  age.  Search  was  made  by  the  parents, 
through  all  the  out-premises  and  in  the  woods  round  about 
the  house,  to  no  effect.  The  next  day,  we  heard  of  it  at 
Albion,  and  the  news  spread  to  the  farmers  and  settle- 
ments for  miles  around.  On  the  following  morning,  neigh- 
bors, as  they  were  called,  assembled  for  ten  miles  round. 
After  searching  the  surrounding  woods  in  vain,  fifty  horse- 
men determined  to  search  French- Creek  Prairie,  a  long 


308     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTS. 

narrow  prairie,  about  four  miles  long  and  scarcely  a-half- 
mile  broad.  The  horsemen  formed  a  line  at  short  intervals 
from  each  other,  examining  every  inch  of  the  ground  as 
they  slowly  passed  along.  In  a  blackberry  patch,  one  of 
the  horsemen  saw  a  little  white  rag  flutter ;  he  rode  up, 
and  there  was  the  child  standing,  but  looking  rather  scared. 
A  long,  loud  whoop,  along  the  whole  line  of  horsemen, 
announced  the  discovery  of  the  child.  The  little  one  was 
soon  in  the  arms  of  its  parents,  and  suffered  no  inconveni- 
ence from  its  long  exposure. 

From  wild  animals,  although  destructive  to  our  flocks 
and  herds,  we  had  no  persoijal  encounters  or  attacks. 
Chastised  by  the  arrows  of  the  Indians  and  the  bullets 
of  the  backwoodsmen,  they  fly  instinctively  from  the  pres- 
ence of  man.  Wolves,  bears,  and  panthers,  the  two  latter 
in  small  numbers,  are  but  rarely  seen.  But  the  large  grev- 
and  black  wolf  were  felt  as  a  severe  scourge  for  many 
years.  They  devoured  great  numbers  of  pigs,  sheep,  and 
calves.  First  and  last,  I  have  lost  more  than  three  hun- 
dred valuable  sheep  from  those  fellows,  besides  the  care, 
trouble,  and  expense  they  put  me  to  in  watching  the  flocks. 
It  is  rather  a  singular  fact,  that  the  last  wolf  known  to 
have  come  into  the  Settlement,  drilled  my  last  sheep.  For 
thirty  years,  these  vermin  made  incessant  war  upon  me. 
My  successors  in  sheep-keeping  have  one  enemy  the  less 
to  encounter  than  I  had. 

I  once  had  six  large  black  wolves  keeping  me  closer 
company  than  I  liked,  in  a  lonely  prairie,  whilst  driving  in 
a  buggy.  We  had  reciprocal  fear  of  each  other,  and  no 
collision  took  place.     As 'late  as   1830,  a  panther  showed 


FIGHT   WITH   A  BLACK   WOLF.  309 

himself  within  a  few  yards  of  my  house,  under  the  follow- 
ing circumstances.  I  was  from  home.  A  favorite  pig,  of 
a  choice  breed,  was  missed.  A  young  hired  lad  and  two 
or  three  of  the  children  went  in  search.  A  rustling'  in  a 
bramble-patch  attracted  attention.  Mrs.  Flower,  who  had 
joined  the  children,  I  think,  in  parting  the  brambles  to 
look  in,  was  startled  by  some  animal  rushing  out.  It 
sprung  upon  the  fence,  rested  for  a  second  or  two,  and 
then  bounded  away.  "Look  at  the  tail,"  said  the  lad; 
and,  in  his  astonishment,  fortunately,  forgot  to  fire,  or 
fatal  consequences  might  have  followed.  A  wounded 
panther  always  turns  upon  its  assailants. 

One  adventure  with  a  large  black  wolf,  from  its  singu- 
larity, may  bear  to  be  related.     A  friend  of  mine,  with  a 
companion,  were  riding  together  in  a  large  open  prairie, 
one  hot  summer's  day.     On   one   side  of  them  the  wood 
was  four  miles  distant,  on  the  other  three.     As  they  rode 
up  a  steep  and  grassy  mound,  a  wolf  was  coming  up  on 
the  other  side.     Both  wolf  and  horsemen  met  on  the  top 
with  equal  surprise,  no  doubt;  for  both  parties  came  to  a 
sudden  halt,  gazing  at  each  other.     In  a  moment,  the  wolf 
was  making  off  for  the  nearest  woods,  with  the  horsemen 
after  him  at  full   speed.      They  soon   overtook  him,  and 
attempted    to  ride  him  down.      But  the  horses,   perhaps 
from   an   instinctive  fear   of  his   fangs,   would   never   step 
upon  him.     In  this  way  they  continued   the  chase  for  a 
long  time.     At  length,  the  wolf,  exhausted  and  faint,  lay 
down.     My  friend  dismounted  to  dispatch  him  by  a  blow 
on   the  head  from  his  heavily-loaded  whip.      The  horse, 
free  from  restraint  and  made  frantic  by  the  flies,  galloped 


3IO     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

away;  my  friend's  companion  riding  after,  endeavoring  to 
catch  him  and  bring  him  back.  My  friend  was  now  alone 
with  the  wolf  As  he  raised  his  arm,  to  give  the  fatal 
blow,  the  wolf  sprang  to  his  feet,  with  his  bristles  erect, 
showing  all  his  terrible  fangs.  Not  liking  the  encounter, 
my  friend,  stepping  backward,  endeavored  to  retreat.  Wolf 
would  allow  of  no  retreat,  but  springing  at  the  throat  of 
the  man,  was  knocked  down  by  a  blow  from  the  heavily- 
loaded  whip.  Three  times  were  these  attacks  given  and 
received,  by  wolf  and  man.  At  the  last  blow  given,  the 
load  in  the  handle  of  the  whip  fell  out.  My  friend  was 
now  without  weapon.  With  great  presence  of  mind,  he 
threw  himself  upon  the  wolf,  seizing  him  by  the  nape  of 
the  neck  with  one  hand ;  and  throwing  upon  him  the 
whole  weight  of  his  body,  both  came  to  the  ground,  man 
on  top,  still  grasping  him  fast  by  the  skin  of  his  neck. 
Such  was  the  strength  of  the  wolf,  that  he  rose  up  with 
the  weight  of  the  man  upon  him,  .walking  and  staggering 
along,  until  the  disengaged  hand  of  the  man  pulled  up 
one  of  his  legs,  and  threw  him  again.  This  struggle 
between  wolf  and  man,  with  alternate  advantage,  con- 
tinued some  time,  until  the  companion  returned  with  both 
horses.  For  a  time  they  were  at  a  loss,  being  destitute  of 
all  weapons.  At  last  a  small  penknife  was  found,  with 
which  the  wolf  was  bled  to  death,  by  severing  .his  neck- 
vein — my  friend  holding  on  like  grim  death  to  the  last 
moment,  his  face,  in  the  struggle,  often  coming  in  dis- 
agreeable proximity  to  the  jaws  of  the  wolf 


CHAPTER   XV. 

Marriage    Certificates  — Average    Cost   of    Marriage  — Erecting    Log- 
Houses— Farmers  Trading  down  the  Mississippi— English  Farm- 
Laborers    become    Substantial    Farmers    and    Merchants    in    the 
English  Settlement  —  Death  of  Richard  Flower  —  His  Character- 
istics— Frequent  Festivities  and  Family  Reunions  at  his  House 
— The    Ancestors    of  the    Flowers  —  Mrs.  Richard    Flower — The 
Buckinghamshire  Party  of  Emigrants  Arrive— German  Families 
Come  in— The  Yorkshire  Men  — Good  Pork  and  Beef  at  Albion 
The  Last  Ship's -Party  Arrive— Travelers  Visiting  the  Settle- 
ment—  Mr.  Hulme  — Mr.  Welby  writes   an    Abusive    Book— Mr. 
Fearon    writes    about    the    Settlement,   but    never   saw    It  —  The 
Thompsons— Mr.  Stewart  an  Edinboro'  Man— Mr.  D.  Constable, 
the  Man  with  a  Knapsack  and  a  Cane — An  Admirable  Charac- 
ter—Good accomplished  by  Mr.  Constable— Sir  Thomas  Beevoir 
and  Lady  Beevoir  visit  Albion— The  Beevoir  Family  in  England 
—  The    Aristocracy  of   England    not    a    Degenerate    Race  —  Lord 
Frederick's   Sermon— The  American   Clock-Peddler— Defamatory 
Books  Published  in  England— Constitution  for  a  Library— Albion 
in  1822  and  i860— Its  Peculiar  Characteristics— No  Printing- Press, 
no  Bank,  no  Lawyer  for  Thirty  Years— Log-Cabins  give  way  to 
Comfortable  Dwellings  —  Town  and  County  Affairs  — The  Steady 
March  of  Improvement  in  the  Settlement— A  Bank  Established  in 
Albion— Two  Lawyers  settle  there— The  Doctors— Joel  Churchill, 
the  "Poor    Man's    Friend"— Cotton  grown  in    the   Settlement  at 
one  Time— Limits  of  the  English  Settlement— Never  any  Quar- 
rels   between   the  English  and  Americans  —  Projected    Railroads 
—The  Southern  Cross  Railroad  bought  by  Gen.  Pickering— Solid 
Prosperity  enjoyed  by  the  Settlement — Annoyances  by  Insects— 
The  "Tires." 


312     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

When  wealth  and  its  accessories  shall  have  changed 
our  simple  customs,  it  may  be  curious  to  see  how  brief 
are  the  records  of  our  marriage  ceremonies,  and  how  small 
their  cost.  In  looking  over  the  marriage  certificates,  from 
1815  to  1820,  the  following  specimens  are  literal  copies, 
and  they  certainly  have  the  merit  of  brevity,  if  they  have 
no  other: 

"The  within-named  persons  were  joined  together  on  the 
30th  September,  18 16.  G.  M.  Smith." 

"Was  joined  as  husband  and  wife,  Samuel  Plough  and 
Sare  Plough  by  me,  March  5,  18 13.    William  Smith." 

"January  ist,  18 19.  Then  solemnized  by  matrimony, 
between  David  Payne  and  Margaret  Stewart. 

"W.  Spence,  J.  P." 

"August  2,  181 5.  There  appeared  before  me,  Jeremiah 
Ballard  and  Eliza  Barney,  and  was  joined  in  marriage. 

"Seth  Gard,  J.  P.,  111.  Ter." 

"111.  Territory,  June  18,  18 16.  By  authority  from  you, 
I  solemnize  rights  of  matrimony  between  Samuel  Bum- 
bery  and  Mary  Jones.  DAVID  McGahee." 

"Was  married  on  the  8th  February,  1820,  Philip  Scud- 
more  to  Ann  Stone.  MoSES  MICHAELS." 

But  our  magistrates  were  not  always  so  exact  as  to 
make  any  returns.     These  were  the  certificates.     We  will 


now  give  the  fee  bills: 


"Marrying  License,   -   $1.00         License, 
Recording  Certificates,     12^     Certificate, 


$I.CX) 
12^ 


Bill  Cost, 


25  Swearing  Witness,    12^ 

$i.37>^  $1-25" 


TRADING   DOWN    THE   MISSISSIPPI.  313 

The  average  cost  of  marriage  was  one  dollar,  thirty-one 
and  a -fourth  cents.  As  many  happy  marriages  were 
doubtless  consummated  under  our  brief  and  illiterate 
forms,  as  under  the  more  formal  and  costly  ceremonies 
that  will  succeed  our  primitive  times. 

The  first  years  of  our  settlement,  from  18 18  to  1825, 
were  spent  by  our  settlers  in  putting  up  small  houses 
(chiefly  of  logs),  and  shelter  of  the  same  sort  for  the 
work-horses  and  other  domestic  animals  used  in  breaking 
up  and  fencing  in  the  prairie  for  the  first  fields.  In  about 
three  years,  a  surplus  of  corn,  pork,  and  beef  was  obtained, 
but  no  market.  Before  they  could  derive  any  benefit  from 
the  sale  of  their  surplus  produce,  the  farmers  themselves 
had  to  quit  their  farms  and  open  the  channels  of  com- 
merce, and  convey  their  produce  along  until  they  found 
a  market.  At  first  there  were  no  produce-buyers,  and  the 
first  attempts  at  mercantile  adventures  were  almost  fail- 
ures. In  the  rising  towns,  a  few  buyers  began  to  appear, 
but  with  too  small  a  capital  to  pay  money,  even  at  the  low 
price  produce  then  was.  They  generally  bought  on  credit, 
to  pay  on  their  return  from  New  Orleans.  In  this  way, 
the  farmers  were  at  disadvantage;  if  the  markets  were 
good,  the  merchant  made  a  handsome  profit.  If  bad, 
they  often  had  not  enough  to  pay  the  farmer.  Then  the 
farmers  began  to  build  their  own  flat-boats,  load  them 
with  the  produce  of  their  own  growth,  and  navigate  them 
by  their  own  hands.  They  traded  down  the  Mississippi  to 
New  Orleans,  and  often  on  the  coast  beyond.  Thus  were 
the  channels  of  trade  opened,  and  in  this  way  was  the 
chief  trade  of  the  country  carried  on  for  many  years. 


314     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS    COUNTY. 

Afterward,  partly  from  capital  made  in  the  place  and 
foreign  capital  coming  in,  trade  was  established  in  a  more 
regular  way.  The  farmer  is  no  longer  called  from  his 
farm,  but  sells  at  home  to  the  storekeepers  and  merchants, 
now  found  in  all  the  small  but  growing  towns,  from  ten  to 
fifteen  miles  distant  from  each  other,  all  over  the  country. 
They  have  now  sufficient  capital  to  pay  for  the  produce  on 
its  delivery.  In  this  way  the  trade  established  has  con- 
tinued, excepting  in  its  increasing  magnitude. 

These  farm-laborers  of  England,  now  substantial  farmers 
and  merchants  in  our  land,  may  be  considered  the  bone 
and  sinew  of  our  country.  When  considered,  their  en- 
larged sphere  of  action  and  change  of  destiny  is  truly 
wonderful.  Once  poor  laborers,  their  experience  com- 
prised within  their  parish  bounds,  or  the  limits  of  the 
farm  on  which  they  daily  toiled  for  a  bare  subsistence; 
now  farmers  themselves  in  another  hemisphere,  boat- 
builders,  annually  taking  adventurous  trading- voyages 
of  over  a  thousand  miles,  and  many  of  them  becoming 
tradesmen  and  merchants  on  a  large  scale,  and  command- 
ing an  amount  of  wealth  they  once  never  dreamed  of 
possessing.  And  well  they  deserve  their  success.  They 
have  earned  it  by  perseverance  and  hard  labor,  flinching 
at  nothing. 

My  father,  Richard  Flower,  died  September  8,  1829, 
aged  sixty-eight  years.  He  was  a  striking  and  decided 
character,  of  marked  features  and  imposing  mien;  hasty 
in  temper,  decided  in  speech,  and  prompt  in  action.  He 
never  sought  to  conceal  his  thoughts,  but  gave  utterance 
to  what    he  conceived    to   be   the   truthful   convictions  of 


ANCESTORS   OF   THE   FLOWERS.  315 

his  mind  in  the  strongest  language.  Such  a  man  could 
never  be  (what,  it  is  true,  he  never  sought  to  be)  a  popu- 
lar man  in  America.  Englishmen,  used  to  free  speech  at 
home,  here  uttering  their  unpremeditated  thoughts,  are 
apt  to  give  offence.  Americans,  more  guarded  and  non- 
committal, escape  that  difficulty.  Once  convinced  of  the 
truth  of  his  impressions,  no  earthly  power  could  turn  my 
father  from  his  course.  It  was  his  belief  in  the  obliga- 
tion of  public  worship  that  induced  him  to  officiate  every 
Sunday  before  other  organized  societies  opened  their 
places  of  worship.  Affectionate  in  his  family,  and  hos- 
pitable to  strangers,  his  mansion  was  the  resort  of  many 
strangers  who  visited  the  Settlement,  and  the  scene  of 
•frequent  festivities  and  family  reunions.  He  sustained 
every  institution,  and  subscribed  liberally  to  every  public 
work  that  was  likely  to  benefit  the  Settlement. 

Our  ancestors  were  men  of  strong  and  impulsive  feel- 
ing. One  of  them,  William  Flower,  is  recorded  in  print 
and  picture  in  "Foxe's  Book  of  Martyrs,"  folio  edition.  He 
is  there  represented  tied  to  the  stake;  the  faggots  piled 
around  him;  refusing  to  recant;  but  offering  his  hand, 
which  the  executioner  has  lopped  off;  and  is  holding  on 
a  pike,  as  an  atonement  for  an  act  which  he  acknowl- 
edged to  be  wrong;  striking  a  priest  with  his  wood-knife 
whilst  officiating  at  the  altar.  My  mother  lived  some 
years  after  my  father,  at  Park  House.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  Edward  Fordham  of  Kelshall,  a  village  on 
the  borders  of  Hertfordshire,  near  the  town  of  Royston. 
Clustering  around  the  bleak  hills  of  that  district,  in  the 
villages  of  Sandon,  Kelshall,  and  Therfield,  the  family  of 


3l6     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

Fordhams  have  long  resided.  In  the  wars  of  the  Pro- 
tectorate, they  were  as  numerous  as  they  are  now.  With 
a  company  of  some  seventy  or  eighty  men,  all  blood-rela- 
tions, and  of  one  name,  they  joined  Cromwell's  army. 
Ordered  to  a  ford  of  a  river,  there  stationed  to  check  the 
advance  of  the  royal  troops,  they  were  all  killed  but  one 
man,  and  he  left  on  the  field  badly  wounded.  From  this 
one  man,  the  seventy-three  uncles  and  cousins — all  Ford- 
hams — that  made  me  a  farewell  visit  at  my  house  at  Mar- 
den  before  I  sailed  for  America,  all  sprang. 

Myself,  the  eldest  son,  and  my  brother,  Edward  Ford- 
ham  Flower,  the  youngest  son — one  in  the  United  States, 
the  other  in  England — are  the  only  representatives  of  our 
family  of  that  generation  now  living. 

In  1830,  a  large  party  arrived  from  Buckinghamshire, 
England,  at  our  Settlement.  They  came  by  way  of  New 
Orleans,  and  landed  at  Shawneetown.  Mr.  James  Bun- 
tin,  a  prominent  man  of  the  party,  is  now  living  with  his 
numerous  family  on,  or  near,  his  place,  north  of  Albion 
which  he  first  chose  immediately  after  his  arrival.  The 
whole  party  are  scattered  about  the  Settlement,  all  doing 
well. 

Soon  after  this,  several  German  families  came  in,  and 
have  continued  to  drop  in  ever  since— one  or  two  in 
Albion,  but  most  of  them  on  farms  in  the  country. 
They  make  very  good  settlers,  and  are  very  good  neigh- 
bors. Quiet,  industrious,  sober,  economical,  they  seldom 
fail  of  success.  Germans,  we  call  them,  although  from 
Denmark,  Prussia,  and  Bavaria;  just  as  we,  from  England, 
Ireland,  and  Scotland,  are  called  English.    By  the  Ameri- 


GOOD   PORK   AND   BEEF   AT   ALBION.  317 

cans  they  are  called  Dutch,  as  all  persons  from  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe  are  called,  who  don't  come  from  France, 
or  speak  pure  French. 

A  considerable  number  of  emigrants,  in  addition  to 
those  already  mentioned,  came  from  Yorkshire,  England. 
Two  brothers,  Charles  and  William  Schofield,  mechanics 
in  Albion,  with  the  families  of  Nailors  and  Stanhope,  are 
all  from  Yorkshire.  They  are  men  generally  of  fair  com- 
plexion, light,  sandy,  or  red  hair;  evidently  of  that  colony 
of  Danes  who  were  compelled  by  King  Alfred,  in  the 
early  period  of  English  history,  to  remain  in  their  colony 
in  Yorkshire.  However  it  might  be  in  those  days,  York- 
shiremen  scatter  far  and  wide  now.  Strong  and  efficient 
settlers  they  make;  and  I  have  sometimes  thought  that 
but  for  the  intermixture  of  blood  by  intermarriage,  they 
and  their  descendants  would  eat  out  gradually  the  South- 
erners, made  of  somewhat  softer  materials. 

The  pork  raised  in  the  neighborhood  of  Albion,  for 
several  years,  maintained  a  high  character,  and  was  sought 
for  by  buyers.  This  was  chiefly  due  to  an  excellent  breed 
of  hogs  that  I  brought  from  England.  From  the  fecun- 
dity  of  the  animal,  and  the  circumstance  of  every  man 
breeding  more  or  less  hogs,  the  improvement  and  exten- 
sion in  this  breed  of  animals  was  more  general  and  rapid 
than  of  the  sheep  and  cattle  I  brought.  Of  the  sheep 
imported,  the  merinos  did  the  best.  The  breed  has  spread 
about  the  country,  considerably  improving  the  woo.1  all 
around.  Two  flocks  of  pure  blood  and  high  quality  are 
now  in  the  same  prairie,  in  possession  of  my  two  sons, 
Alfred  and  Camillus  Flower. 


3l8     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY.  ' 

! 

Drovers  have  told   me  that  for  several  years  they  gave 
three  dollars  a  head  more  for  the  steers  in  the  neighbor- 
hood  of  Albion  than  in  the  settlements  around.     This  was      I 
entirely   owing  to  the  first   bull  that   I   brought,  and   the      I 
second     that    Mr.    Pickering    brought,    and    gave    to    the      \ 
Settlement.     Dr.   Samuel  Thompson  of  Albion,  imported      i 
a  noble  draught-horse,  known  in  England  as  the  Suffolk 
Punch.      This    gave   great   improvement    to   this   class   of     , 
animals.     In  a  settlement  of  foreign  origin,  peopled  from      ! 
various  localities,  many  novel  and  useful  animals,  plants,      I 
and    implements  are    found.       One    brings   some   favorite 
breed  of  quadrupeds  or  poultry;  another,  a  culinary  plant 
or   flower.       Again,  one   brings   a  new  and   efficient   tool, 
only  known,  perhaps,  in  his  locality  in  England. 

About  fifteen  years  ago,  the  last  ship's -party  arrived. 
Most  of  them  were  assisted  by,  and  some  were  at  the  i 
sole  charge  of,  my  brother,  Edward  F.  Flower,  and  I  am 
afraid,  like  man\'  another  man  that  does  a  kind  thing,  he  i 
has  been  allowed  to  do  it  at  his  own  cost.  The  party  ! 
all  came  safe,  and  were  immediately  absorbed,  and  have  ] 
all  done  well  for  themselves.  i 

From  its  very  infancy,  tlie  Settlement  has  been  visited      ] 
by  travelers  and  tourists.     Mr.  Hulme  of  Philadelphia,  is,      j 
I   think,  the  first  traveler  that  gave  a  printed  account  of 
what  jie  saw.     Mr.  Welby*  was,  perhaps,  the  next.     As  I 

*  "A  Visit  to  North  America  and  the  I'2nglish  Settlement  in  Illinois,  etc., 
by  Adiaril  Welby,  Esq.,  South  Rauceby,  Lincolnshire." 

Mr.  Welby  traveled  in  this  country  in   1820-I,  and  on  his  return  to  Eng- 
land, in   1 82 1,  published  the  account  of  his  travels,  and  what  he  had  seen.        , 
The  author  pretends  th.it  he  came  "solely  to  this  country  to  ascertain   the        j 
actual  prospects  of  the  emigrating  agriculturalist,  mechanic,  and  commercial        | 


MR.  WELBY   AT    ALBION.  319 

rode  into  Albion  (when  it  was  about  six  log-houses  old), 
I  saw  a  handsome  phaeton  and  pair,  attended  by  a  groom 
in  top-boots  and  on  horseback.    An  invitation  to  my  house 
was  cordially  accepted,  to  the  relief  of  the  landlord,  whose 
accommodations  then  were  too  limited  to  allow  of  him  to 
give  a  satisfactory  reception  to  such  a  turnout.     Mr.  Welby 
spent  a  day  or  two  with  me.     There  was  not  much  then 
to  see.      A   few   log-cabins   near  to   Mr.  Birkbeck,   a   few 
more,  the  very  beginning  of  Albion,  was  all   to  show  of 
architectural  display.      I   have  no  distinct  recollection  of 
what  he  said.      But   I   think   there  was   something  in  his 
book  that  called  forth  some  strictures  from  Mr.  Birkbeck's 
pen. 

Mr.  Fearon,"  has,  I  think,  made  mention  of  the  Settle- 
speculator."  On  the  other  hand,  the  book  would  seem  to  disclose  that  his 
real  object  was  to  descry  the  country  and  discourage  the  emigration  of  the 
English  to  it.  It  is  written  in  a  spirit  of  mean  prejudice  and  is  full  of  mis- 
representation and  abuse.  He  gives  a  chapter  to  an  account  of  his  visit  to 
the  "English  Settlement  in  the  Illinois."  He  reached  the  village  after  dark, 
and  found  poor  accommodations  for  his  entertainment,  which  must  have  put 
him  in  a  bad  humor.  It  was  a  time  when  there  was  an  extreme  scarcity 
of  water  in  the  Settlement.  The  next  morning,  he  says,  he  sent  to  Mr. 
Birkbeck's  well  for  water  for  his  horses,  which  was  refused  to  him;  undoubt- 
edly for  the  reason  that  Mr.  B.  had  barely  sufficient  for  his  own  family. 
He  then  sent  to  Mr.  Flower,  and  had  better  luck.  He  therefore  abuses 
Birkbeck  and  praises  Flower,  who  extended  to  him  a  degree  of  politeness 
to  which  he  proved  himself  not  entitled,  as  is  shown  by  his  misrepresenta- 
tions of  the  Settlement.  Falling  in  with  some  shiftless  and  dissatisfied  mem- 
bers of  the  Colony,  he  voiced  their  complaints  against  Mr.  Birkbeck,  who 
he  arraigns  in  bitter  terms  for  having  held  out  false  inducements  to  emigrants. 
While  speaking  of  the  Settlement  as  a  "bad  concern,"  and  saying  that  it 
was  no  small  pleasure  for  him  to  know  "that  he  was  in  a  situation  to  get 
away,"  he  alludes  in  warm  terms  of  the  "polite  and  hospitable  attention "^ 
extended  to  him  by  Mr.  Flower. 

*  Mr.  Henry  Bradshaw  Fearon  published,  at   London,  in  1818,  "A  Narra- 
tive   of  a   Journey    through    the    Eastern    and    Western    parts    of   America;. 


320     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

ment;  he  never  saw  it.  A  Londoner,  with  city  habits,  is 
not  very  well  qualified  as  an  explorer  in  any  new  country. 
He  traveled  to  Pittsburgh  by  public  conveyance,  down  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  in  some  river-craft.  He  knew  noth- 
ing practically  of  the  immense  regions  lying  to  his  right 
hand  or  to  his  left.  Mr.  Fearon  was  sent  out  by  a  few 
families  in  London,  who  then  thought  of  coming  to  Amer- 
ica. He  accordingly  traveled  and  made  his  report,  which 
lis  recorded  in  his  book  of  travels.  With  Mr.  Samuel 
Thompson,  the  father-in-law  of  Mr.  Fearon,  of  London,  I 
became  acquainted,  when  last  in  London,  in  1817.  Mr. 
Thompson  was  the  head  of  a  religious  sect,  then  called  the 
Free-thinking    Christians.     The  opinions  of  himself   and 

together  with  Remarks  on  Birkbeck's  Notes  and  Letters. "  The  author  was 
never  at  the  Enghsh  Settlement,  but  he  contents  himself  by  devoting  about 
sixty  pages  of  his  book  to  an  adverse  criticism  on  Mr.  Birkbeck's  "  Letters  " 
and  "Notes."  The  book,  as  a  whole,  is  a  readable  one,  showing  the  im- 
pressions which  an  Englishman  formed  of  the  country  sixty  years  ago. 
There  will  be  found  in  this  volume  many  interesting  descriptions  of  men 
and  things.  Curiously  enough,  Mr.  Fearon  speaks  of  meeting  at  Gwathway's 
Hotel,  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  Loi-d  Selkirk,  who  was  on  his  "return  from  his 
unsuccessful  expedition  in  the  North-Western  Territory."  He  says  he 
obtained  for  his  lordship  some  Boston  papers  which  were  only  two  months 
old,  which  afforded  him  great  satisfaction,  as  he  had  not  heard  any  intelli- 
gence from  Europe  for  nine  months.  This  is  an  interesting  fact,  for  it  shows 
that  Lord  Selkirk,  on  leaving  the  settlement  he  had  founded  on  the  Red  River 
of  the  North,  did  not  return  home  by  sea  from  York  Factory,  but  made 
his  way  by  land  to  Fort  St.  Anthony— afterward  Fort  Snelling— and  thence 
down  the  Mississippi  River  to  St.  Louis.  Lord  Selkirk  formed  his  first 
colony  in  iSi  i,  which  was  reinforced  by  an  emigration  in  181 6.  This  colony 
was  under  the  protection  of  the  Hudson- Bay  Company.  Then  came  the 
gigantic  struggle  between  the  Hudson- Bay  and  the  North-Western  Com- 
panies. The  latter  company  undertook  to  expel  Selkirk's  colonists.  When 
Lord  Selkirk,  who  was  then  in  England,  heard  of  this,,  he  procured  permis- 
sion from  the  British  (government  to  take  a  military  force  from  Canada  to 
Red  River,  to  protect  his  settlers.  With  a  company  of  regular  soldiers  of 
the  British  army,  and  a  certain  number  of  volunteers,  he  returned  with  them 


MR.  D.  CONSTABLE — AN   ADMIRABLE   CHARACTER.    32 1 

followers  are  to  be  found  in  his  many  published  works. 
Radical  in  politics,  heretical  in  religion  (according  to  the 
orthodox  standard),  Mr.  Thompson  and  some  members  of 
his  family  and  church  then  thought  to  leave  England. 
America  generally,  and  our  Settlement  in  particular,  at 
that  time  engaged  their  attention.  So  nearly  were  the 
minds  of  himself  and  friends  made  up  for  a  removal,  that 
they  sent  money  by  me  to  buy  land.  The  land  was 
bought.  Fortunately  for  them,  I  think,  they  changed  their 
minds,  and  never  came. 

In  after  years,  Mr.  Thompson's  two  sons,  F.  B.  Thomp- 
son, the  younger,  and  Sam'l  Thompson,  the  elder  brother, 
both  came  out  as  permanent  settlers,  and  inherited  their 
father's    land    and    property  in   Albion.      Mr.  Stewart,  an 

to  Red  River,  and  drove  out  the  representatives  of  the  North-Western  Com- 
pany. After  this  had  been  accomplished,  finding  his  colony  weakened  by 
the  troubles  it  had  gone  through,  he  determined  to  return  to  Europe  to  beat 
tip  recruits  for  another  colony.  The  original  colonists  had  been  mostly 
Scotch,  but  now  he  turned  his  attention  to  procuring  protestant  Swiss,  mostly 
from  the  Jura.  This  last  colony,  having  been  organized,  sailed  for  York 
Factory  in  1 82 1.  But  in  the  meantime,  and  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
colonists,  before  they  had  taken  their  departure.  Lord  Selkirk  had  died  at 
Pau,  in  France.  This  was  a  fatal  blow  to  the  success  of  the  colony. 
Deprived  of  the  fostering  care  of  the  founder,  and  with  unlooked  for  and 
terrible  hardships,  and  in  the  presence  of  frightful  sufferings,  the  colonists 
were  obliged  to  totally  abandon  their  enterprise.  There  was  no  ship  to  take 
them  back  by  the  way  of  the  sea  from  York  Factory;  the  only  possible 
escape  was  to  the  nearest  settlement  in  the  United  States.  Their  attention 
was  undoubtedly  directed  to  this  means  of  deliverance  by  the  fact  that  Lord 
Selkirk  had  taken  that  route  when  he  left  the  country  in  1818.  Many  of  these 
colonists  afterward  settled  in  the  Galena  lead  mines  and  became  excellent 
citizens,  distinguished  by  probity  and  honor,  industry  and  thrift.  A  son  of 
one  of  the  prominent  colonists  has  written  a  very  interesting  account  of  the 
colony  of  1821.* 

*  See  article   "The  Red-River  Colony,"  by  Brevet-Maj.-Gen.  Augustus  L.  Chetlain  of 
Chicago,  published  in  "  Harper's  Magazine,"  for  December,  1878. 

21 


322     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

Edinboro'  man,  and  a  well-educated  gentleman,  after  a 
wide  circuit  by  Springfield,  Jacksonville,  St.  Louis,  and 
Vandalia  came  upon  us  from  the  west.  Mr.  Stewart  did 
me  the  favor  of  a  short  visit.  He  took  a  more  compre-- 
hensive  view  than  most  travelers.  He  published  a  large 
volume  of  travels,  much  appreciated  in  England  as  a  store- 
house of  facts  and  statistics.  He  gave  us,  I  think,  a 
favorable  review. 

Among  the  many  tourists,  that,  from  time  to  time, 
visited  our  Settlement,  one  of  a  class,  common  in  Europe, 
but  rarely,  if  ever,  seen  in  America,  appeared  among  us  in 
1824.  As  a  pedestrian  tourist,  performing  all  his  journeys 
on  foot,  he  could  see  more  of  persons  and  places  than  if 
conveyed  by  stage  or  carried  on  horseback. 

On  a  summer  afternoon,  a  gentleman  of  middle  age,  and 
middle  stature,  with  a  small  knapsack  on  his  back,  and  a 
light  walking-stick  in  hand,  came  to  Park  House,  and  intro- 
duced  himself  as  Mr.  D.  Constable  from  England.  I  had 
a  slight  knowledge  of  the  name,  and  gained  a  complete 
knowledge  of  the  family  from  his  brother,  who  visited  me 
some  years  afterward.  We  all  spent  a  pleasant  evening 
together.  The  next  day  he  passed  on,  as  unostentatiously 
as  he  came,  to  see  other  people  and  other  places.  He 
spent  several  days  in  the  Settlement,  staying  a  little  time 
with  those  of  congenial  minds  and  similar  tastes;  and,  no 
doubt,  during  those  few  days  he  obtained  more  informa- 
tion and  correct  impressions,  than  more  pretentious  and 
less  observant  travelers.  The  most  remarkable  thing  about 
Mr.  Constable  was  his  unremarkableness.  His  dress  and 
address  were  as  plain  and  simple  as  they  could  be,  not  to 


MR.  D.  CONSTABLE — AN  ADMIRABLE  CHARACTER.  323 

be    singular — nothing    absolutely    wanting;    but    nothing 
superfluous  could  be  detected  about  his  dress  or  personal 
appointments.    A  superficial  observer  would  pass  Mr.  Con- 
stable   by,   as    an    ordinary    man,   almost    unnoticed.      In 
conversation  he  did  not  press  inquiry,  or  argue  strongly; 
and  never  followed  argument  into  controversy.      He  did 
not  much  care  for  what  you  thought,  but   liked    to  hear 
what  you  knew;  and  would  freely  give  you  any  informa- 
tion that  he  thought  would  be  of  service  to  you.     But  with 
all   this  simplicity,   he   possessed   a  talent  of   discovering 
what    his    companions    knew   and    thought,  quicker  than 
most    men.      This    he    could    generally   do    from    passing 
remarks,  or  replies  to  casual  questions.     If  not  successful, 
he  had  recourse  to  a  little  expedient,  that  never  failed  to 
give  the  tone  of  mind  of  all  his  companions,  if  there  were 
a  dozen  of  them.     In  his  little  knapsack,  besides  his  two 
shirts,  one  handkerchief,  one  pair  of  socks,  razor,  and  soap, 
he  carried  a  numerous  pack  of  cards.     Each  card  had  on 
one  side  a  portrait,  and  on  the  other  a  short  biography  of 
the  person  represented.     Both  men  and  women,  eminent  in 
any  way,  were  here  pictured;  and,  according  to  the  opinion 
he  wished  to  elicit,  he  made  his  selection  of  the  cards — .say 
a  dozen  or  more;  and,  taking  some  favorable  opportunity 
of  showing,  perhaps  to  some  member  of  the  party,  a  por- 
trait in  which  he  or  she  would  feel  an  interest,  it  would 
naturally  pass  from  hand  to  hand,  and  the  others  would  be 
asked  for,  and  would  receive  some  comment;  some  remark 
in  approbation  or  censure  of  the  life  or  opinions  of  the 
person  represented,  would   escape  the  spectators.     If   he 
wished  more  distinctly  to  learn  the  religious  or  political 


324     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

opinions  of  any  one  of  the  party,  he  would  show  portraits 
of  some  eminent  divines,  and  of  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  Pitt, 
Fox,  Mirabeau,  Paine,  Jefferson,  Adams,  Hamilton,  and  so 
on,  with  others  famous  in  science,  or  notorious  for  crime. 
Thus,  in  five  minutes  from  some  run  of  argument  or  casual 
remark,  he  would  be  in  possession  of  the  opinions,  predi- 
lections, and  prejudices  of  all  his  associates;  and  this  was 
no  small  acquisition  to  one  who  wished  to  pass  on  his  way 
smoothly,  without   conflict   with    his   fellows.       He  would 
enter  the  humblest  cabin  and  chat  with  its  inmates.    Trav- 
eling in  this  unostentatious  way,  he  saw  more  of  the  whole 
people.      It  was  not  his  fault  if  his  entertainers  did  not 
gain  something,  however  short  his  stay.     If  he  saw  a  sick 
child,  he  would  name  some  remedy  or  palliative  within  its 
parents'  reach.     If  the  woman  was  cooking,  he  was  likely 
to  tell  her  of  some  simple  preparation  for  a  palatable  dish, 
or  point  out  some   plant  that  she  had   never  thought  of 
•cooking  before.     For  he  was  a  vegetarian,  or  ate  little  or 
no  animal  food.     If  a  man  was  at  work  with  a  clumsy  tool, 
he  would  show  him  how  it  might  be  improved,  and  often 
sit  down  and  whittle  it  into  right  shape.     Constable  was 
of  the  utilitarian  school,  and  thought  more  of  individual 
than  political  reform.     He  thought  that  extravagance  in 
one  part  of  the  community  made  want  in  the  other;  if  all 
the  misspent  labor  in  the  fooleries  of  fashion  and  useless 
ornamentation  was  directed  to  the  creation  of  something' 
useful  or  necessary,  this  change  would  of  itself  go  far  to 
remove  the  suffering  from  want.     He  lived  up  to  his  opin- 
ions.    As  a  bachelor,  he  occupied  but  two  rooms,  one  for 
a  parlor,  the  other  for  a  bed-room.     In  England,  it  is  not 


D.  constable's  mode  of  life.  325 

the  habit  to  use  by  day  the  same  room  that  you  sleep  in 
by  night.  The  English  bed -room  is  strictly  a  private 
room,  never  entered,  excepting  by  special  invitation;  per- 
haps to  see  some  friend  in  sickness,  incapable  of  leaving 
his  bed.  I  do  not  recollect  in  all  England  that  I  ever  saw 
a  bed  in  a  sitting-room.  In  his  parlor  were  a  few  chairs,  a 
table,  and  a  shelf  of  books.  On  the  sill  of  the  window, 
jiear  to  wiiich  he  usually  sat,  was  a  small  pulley,  over  which 
ran  a  cord,  with  a  hook  at  one  end.  About  noon,  at  the 
sound  of  a  well-known  voice  of  a  boy  from  a  neighboring 
tavern,  he  lowered  his  hook  into  the  street,  and  pulled  up 
a  small  basket,  containing  a  loaf  of  bread,  a  pint  of  beer, 
a  slice  of  butter  or  cheese,  a  lettuce,  or  some  vegetable  or 
fruit  in  season.  His  simple  repast  over,  as  the  boy  returned, 
he  lowered  his  basket  and  empty  pewter-pot,  both  to  be 
filled  and  drawn  up  for  his  next  day's  dinner.  His  break- 
fast and  evening  meal — a  cup  of  tea  and  piece  of  dry 
toast — he  prepared  himself  at  his  own  fire.  Whatever 
was  left  of  his  income  at  the  end  of  the  year,  he  gave 
away,  either  to  relieve  individual  wants,  or  to  strengthen 
some  benevolent  institution.  He  belonged  to  no  political 
party,  nor  to  any  religious  sect;  yet  was  alive  to  every 
proposed  reform,  political  or  social;  this  led  him  to  view 
with  interest  Harmony,  at  which  he  spent  some  time,  at 
Rapp's  exit  and  Owen's  advent. 

A  few  years  afterward,  Sir  Thomas  Beevoir  and  Lady 
Beevoir  of  Beevoir  Castle,  England,  made  us  a  visit. 
Their  mode  of  traveling  was  by  a  light  phseton,  drawn  by 
a  well-matched  pair  of  black  ponies.  These  Sir  Thomas 
drove    from  Washington    City  to    Albion,    and    afterward 


326      ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

across  the  state  of  Illinois  to  St.  Louis,  and  from  thence 
descended  to  New  Orleans.     He  was  unattended  by  any 
servant.      He  walked  to  Park  House  immediately  after  his 
arrival  at  Albion,  and  introduced  himself.     At  his  depart- 
ure, on  his  arriving  at  a  very  tall  white  gate,  that  stood 
between  the  lawn  and  the  park,  to  the  surprise  of  every 
body,  he  lightly  laid  his  hands  on  the  top  bar,  and  with 
the  greatest  ease  sprang  over  the  gate  without  opening  it. 
On   relating  the   circumstance   to   a   neighbor,   a   Norfolk 
man,  who  formerly  lived  in  the  vicinage  of  the  Beevoir 
family — "Ah!"  said  he,  "it  is  just  like  them.    The  Beevoir 
family  are  all  muscular  and  long-limbed."    He  then  related 
that  at  the  parish  church  he  attended,  the  living  had  been 
given  to  one  of  the  Beevoir  family,  who  officiated  every 
Sunday.     "He  was  a  remarkable  man,"  said  he;  "his  arms 
were  so  long  that  when  he  stood  upright  he  could  with 
ease  button  up  his  own  knee-breeches,  which  are  just  at 
the  join  of  the  knee  and  a  little  below.     He  delighted  in 
all  country  sports,  but  his  particular  fancy  was  the  ring.    A 
strong  man  himself,  a  well-trained  pugilist,  his  great  length 
of  arm  gave  him  such  an  advantage,  that  but  few  adver- 
saries  dare  encounter   him;    but   withal,   a  well-educated 
man  and  a  good  preacher."     This  discrepancy  of  avoca- 
tions,   not    unfrequently    found    in    the    preachers    of   the 
English  Episcopal  church,  may  be  accounted  for  by  the 
law  of  primogeniture,  giving  to  the  eldest  son  the  estates, 
and  often  the  presentation  of  one  or  more  parochial  liv- 
ings.    In  these  aristocratic  families,  the  younger  sons  are 
provided    for  by  appointments  in  the  church,  army,  and 
navy. 


ENGLISH   ARISTOCRACY.  32/ 

Those  who  suppose  the  aristocracy  of  England  to  be  a 
degenerate  race  are  greatly  mistaken.  They  are  almost 
always  men  of  education,  and  in  most  of  them  their  phy- 
sical powers  are  well  developed.  The  fancy  and  the  cleri- 
cal characters,  united  in  the  same  person,  is  by  no  means 
uncommon  in  England.  I  was  once  much  struck  by  the 
variety  of  characters  assumed  and  well -performed  by  a 
scion  of  a  noble  house  in  a  few  hours.  We  had  attended 
in  the  morning  the  races  in  the  Park.  Lord  Frederick 
rode  his  own  horse  in  jocky  costume.  His  light  weight 
and  rather  diminutive  stature  fitted  him  for  the  office. 
Being  hi*s  own  jockey,  secured  him  from  those  tricks  to 
which  gentlemen  of  the  turf  are  always  exposed.  He  was 
a  horse-dealer  as  well  as  a  racer;  and  by  his  good  judg- 
ment in  both  added  to  his  slender  fortune.  His  friend  and 
patron,  at  whose  house  w^e  were,  had  presented  him  with 
the  living.  So,  between  the  profits  of  his  stable  and  his 
clerical  salary,  he  had  pocket-money  enough  to  appear  in 
genteel  society.  The  party  was  large  at  dinner.  Lord 
Frederick  carved  the  game  and  did  the  honors  of  the  table, 
taking  his  share,  but  not  immoderately,  of  wine;  and  bear- 
ing his  part  in  convivial  after-dinner  conversation.  It  was 
about  eleven  o'clock.  Lord  Frederick's  chair  was  vacant. 
"Where  is  Lord  Fred..''"  asked  one.  Our  host,  pointing 
to  a  distant  corner,  said,  "It's  Saturday  night;  he  is  writ- 
ing his  sermon  for  tomorrow."  Some  of  the  party  had  the 
curiosity  to  go  to  church  to  hear  the  sermon.  The  usual 
country  congregation  assembled,  with  a  few  of  literary 
acquirements  and  good  critics.  The  sermon  was  faultless, 
as  was  its  delivery,  suited  to  the  plain  people,  the  bulk  of 


328      ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

the  congregation,  as  well  as  those  of  higher  culture,  from 
the  purity  of  its  diction,  with  a  spirit  of  fervent  piety  run- 
ning through  the  whole  that  touched  the  most  devout. 

The  clock-peddlers  of  America  perhaps  have  equal  abil- 
ity, and  the  merit  of  more  mother-wit.  They  can  out-trade 
the  shrewdest,  shuffle  a  pack  of  cards  with  any  man,  and,, 
whenever  the  occasion  requires,  can  preach  a  better  ser- 
mon, and  offer  a  more  fervent  prayer,  than  many  regular 
preachers.  I  think  there  must  have  been  something  origi- 
nal in  our  Settlement,  to  attract  so  many  tourists  of 
original  and  eccentric  character,  both  men  and  women,  as 
it  did.  To  portray  them  all  faithfully  would  take  a 
volume  of  itself. 

Many  books  were  published  in  England  by  real  and  pre- 
tended travelers,  some  of  them  very  defamatory ;  others  of 
so  low  and  scurrilous  a  character,  that  they  had  but  a 
limited  circulation  and  did  us  but  little  harm.  No  two- 
men  have  been  more  freely  criticised  than  Mr.  Birkbeck 
and  myself.  Of  this  we  did  not  complain.  Neither  our 
actions  nor  our  words  were  hid  under  a  bushel.  If  notori- 
ety had  been  our  object,  we  certainly  attained  it.  Some 
friends  in  England,  with  ourselves,  were  anxious,  for  the 
good  of  the  Settlement,  that  a  public  library  should  exist, 
Mr.  Edward  King  Fordham  of  Royston,  my  uncle,  gave 
several  volumes;  Mr.  Samuel  Thompson  contributed  his 
works.  But  the  most  valuable  contribution  was  from  Mr. 
Liddard  —  many  volumes  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  full  of 
valuable  plates.  To  other  gentlemen  we  were  indebted 
for  a  variety  of  volumes,  which  each  donor  considered  of 
some  peculiar  value.     One  of  our  first  cares  was  to  follow 


PUBLIC  LIBRARY — CHARACTERISTICS  OF  ALBION.  329 

the  intentions  of  the  donors  and  place  them  in  a  pubhc 
hbrary.  '  But  to  estabhsh  an  available  library  in  a  new 
settlement,  in  a  wild  country,  is  no  easy  matter.  The  chief 
difficulty  lies  in  the  care  of  the  books,  no  fund  being  pro- 
vided for  the  salary  of  a  librarian.  If  placed  in  a  public 
room,  they  are  maltreated,  and  often  borrowed  never  to 
be  returned.  If  joined  to  a  reading-room,  their  fate  is  no 
better.  The  scattered  settlers  around  are  too  distant  for 
them  to  be  available.  The  first  inhabitants  of  a  young 
town  are  too  much  pressed  by  active  and  laborious  employ- 
ments for  time  or  wish  to  read.  Sedentary  employments 
are  not  the  order  of  the  day.  All  that  seems  to  be  wanted, 
for  years,  is  a  ready-reckoner,  a  pocket-companion,  or  an 
interest  table;  or  more  than  all,  a  few  volumes  of  law,  for 
reference.  Our  library  soon  got  dispersed.  After  a  time 
individuals  boldly  assumed  their  ownership.  This  brought 
on  contentions;  legal  decision  restored  them. 

The  town  of  Albion,  in  its  early  days,  was  rather 
belligerent.  In  1822,  we  find  it  quiet,  and  only  between 
one  hundred,  and  one  hundred  and  seventy  or  eighty 
inhabitants, — rather  small  to  be  dignified  as  a  town,  and  a 
county-town,  too;  and  it  is  not  a  large  town  now,  in  i860, 
being  somewhat  under  a  thousand  inhabitants.  But 
Albion  has  had,  from  the  first,  some  peculiar  character- 
istics. In  its  early  days,  it  had  a  larger  proportion  of 
brick  and  stone  houses  than  is  usual  in  young  American 
towns.  There  have  been  but  few,  if  any,  copartnerships 
in  trade.  You  never  see  in  Albion  "Mr.  &  Co."  It  is 
Joel  Churchill,  George  Harris,  Matthew  Smith,  and  so  on. 
Every  tub  stands  on  its  own  bottom.     Americans,  so  self- 


330     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

reliant  in  all  other  things,  seem  to  want  the  support  of 
numbers  in  trade.  Mr.  Hook  would  hardly  veMure  his 
name  alone  as  storekeeper  in  a  new  American  town.  His 
card  would  certainly  be — Hook,  Fish  &  Co.  Mr.  Foot 
would  feel  diffident  of  asking  an  extension  of  time  and 
amount  of  the  wholesale  house;  but  who  would  think  of 
refusing  any  request  from  that  well-known  house  of  "Foot, 
Fryingpan  &  Fiddle."  One  thing  may  be  said  in  the  favor 
of  Albion:  No  mercantile  house  ever  lost  a  dollar  by  an 
Albion  store. 

No  other  county-town,  I  presume,  in  the  State,  has  had 
the  singularity  to  exist  for  more  than  thirty  years,  without 
a  printing-press,  a  bank,  or  an  attorney's  office,  if  we 
except  about  two  years  residence  of  Judge  Wattles. 

The  numerous  log-cabins,  to  be  found  in  all  western 
towns,  are  now  cleared  away,  and  comfortable  dwellings 
stand  in  their  stead.  Ten  well-stocked  stores  distribute 
supplies  to  the  neighboring  farmers,  in  place  of  two  or 
three  small  stocks  of  goods,  that  could  only  be  disposed 
of  by  giving  extended  credit.  The  mechanical  trades^ 
once  feebly  practised,  are  much  strengthened  and  ex- 
tended. The  wagon  and  plow  business,  carried  on  by 
Charles  and  William  Schofield,  and  by  John  Johns,  Alex- 
ander Stewart,  Elijah  Chisholm,  supply  the  country,  far 
and  wide,  with  wagons,  carts,  and  plows.  The  clothing 
business  is  carried  on  with  great  spirit  by  Mr.  Dalby  and 
Mr.  French.  The  diminutive  needle  and  slender  thread, 
industriously  plied  for  some  years,  have  built  one  or  two 
good  houses,  and  supplied  their  owners  with  sufficient 
incomes  to  enjoy  them.      Mr.  French  has,  I  believe,  fol- 


MATTERS  IN  ALBION  AND  EDWARDS  COUNTY.      33 1 

lowed  the  universal  instinct  of  man,  by  abandoning  his 
sedentary  trade,  and  recreates  himself  by  cultivating  a 
small  piece  of  land,  by  his  own  hand,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  town.  Both  Mr.  Dalby  and  Mr.  French  have, 
during  their  busiest  time  of  life,  cultivated  their  own  good 
gardens,  abounding  with  fine  vegetables,  and  fruits,  and 
many  choice  flowers. 

The  public  as  well  as  the  private  business  of  the  town 
and  county  is  kept  in  a  satisfactory  state.  In  the  first 
years  of  the  Settlement,  the  public  business  of  the  county 
was  rather  loosely  conducted,  and  the  county  deep  in  debt. 
But  for  the  last  twenty  years,  public  business  has  been 
punctually  and  promptly  performed,  and  the  records  of 
the  county  kept  in  order  for  ready  reference.  This  is  due 
to  the  good  administration  of  the  county  affairs  by  Walter 
L.  Mayo,  Esq.,  who  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  best,  if  not 
the  very  best,  county- clerks  to  be  found  in  the  State. 
The  gatherings  of  the  people  from  the  country  are  now 
marked  by  decorum,  quietude,  and  respectability.  There 
is  no  disjDlay  of  luxury  in  town  or  county,  and  no  desti- 
tution. Of  the  Settlement,  as  it  was  once  called,  there 
is  now  no  definite  bounds;  it  is  intermixed  with  other 
settlements.  The  farmers  in  the  country,  and  the  trades- 
men of  the  town,  have  exhibited  one  steady  march  of 
progress,  slow,  continuous,  and  sure.  Absence  of  specu- 
lation, and  the  solid  effect  from  long-continued  industry, 
is  the  great  feature  of  the  English  Settlement.  The 
progress  at  first  was  slow,  and  the  swell  of  improvements 
kept  such  even  pace  with  each  other,  that  advance  was 
scarcely  perceptible.     Comparing  the  state  of  things  every 


332     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

five  years,  the  advance  is  very  marked.  But  so  gradual 
has  been  the  process,  we  can  scarcely  tell  how  those 
who  were  once  the  poorest  are  now  the  richest.  Men, 
once  without  a  dollar,  and  many  of  them  owing  for  their 
passage  across  the  sea,  are  now  the  largest  land -owners 
and  property-holders  in  the  county. 

But  a  change  is  working,  and  the  little  peculiarities  of 
the  town  will  soon  be  obliterated.  Under  the  banking- 
law  of  the  State,  Albion  has  now  a  bank — a  sort  of  spirit- 
ual affair,  but  reversing  the  order  of  spiritual  manifesta- 
tions— its  invisible  spirit  residing  in  Albion,  its  body  must 
be  in  some  other  sphere.  Its  notes  may  circulate  in  the 
moon,  but  never  show  their  face  in  Albion ;  for  every  such 
oftence  would  be  punished  by  transmutation  into  metal. 

Two  gentlemen  of  the  legal  profession  have,  at  length, 
had  the  temerity  to  settle  in  Albion.  The  professors  of 
medicine  have  increased.  Of  doctors,  where  there  was 
once  one,  there  are  now  four.  Mr.  Archibald  Spring  was, 
for  many  years,  the  only  medical  man,  enjoying  an  exten- 
sive practice.  Dr.  Welshman  from  Warwickshire,  England, 
a  man  of  experience  and  skill  as  physician  and  surgeon, 
member  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  of  London, 
also  settled  in  Albion.  His  residence  was  short ;  for  the 
same  disorder,  the  erysipelas,  carried  off  Dr.  Spring  and 
Dr.  Welshman  within  a  few  days  of  each  other.  Dr. 
Samuel  and  Dr.  F.  B.  Thompson  then  succeeded  to  the 
practice  of  the  county,  and  continue  at  this  time  as  resi- 
dents of  Albion,  and  practising  physicians.  To  them  is 
added  Dr.  Francis  Dickson.  Dr.  Lowe,  representing  the 
herbal  branch  of  medicine,  is  also  in  full  practice,  a  resi- 
dent of  Albion. 


JOEL  CHURCHILL,   THE  "  POOR  MAN'S  FRIEND."     333 

Mr.  Joel  Churchill  is  the  only  one  of  the  three  original 
merchants  of  Albion  now  living.  He  may  be  said  to  be 
the  father  of  the  trade.  By  his  liberal  dealing,  and  indul- 
gence to  many  of  the  poorest  settlers  in  early  days,  their 
path  to  competence'  and  comfort  was  rendered  easy  and 
smooth.  His  kindness  in  this  way  was  at  the  time  appre- 
ciated ;  I  recollect  hearing  poor  settlers  frequently  speak 
of  him  as  the  "poor  man's  friend."  Mr.  Churchill  held 
the  office  of  postmaster  for  many  years,  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  whole  country.  Many  a  poor  farmer,  who 
could  not  muster  his  quarter- dollar  to  pay  his  foreign 
letter,  was  patiently  waited  on  for  years,  until  he  was 
able  to  discharge  his  postage-bill.  The  whole  country 
was  accommodated;  the  postal-department  always  settled 
with,  no  complaint  could  be  made  either  of  incompetency, 
neglect,  or  defalcation.  Yet,  at  the  commencement  of  Mr. 
Pierce's  Democratic  career,  he  was  displaced,  for  political 
considerations  alone. 

During  the  first  ten  years  of  the  Settlement,  there  was 
a  great  deal  of  cotton  grown.  I  had  a  cotton-gin,  for 
the  accommodation,  of  the  country,  which  was  kept  in 
full  operation  for  several  seasons.  The  soil  and  climate 
seemed  to  be  pretty  good  for  it,  and  many  fair  crops 
were  raised.  It  was  chiefly  grown  by  southern  settlers 
for  their  own  use.  As  southerners  grew  more  scarce,  and 
northerners  more  plenty,  the  cultivation  declined,  and  has 
ceased  now  altogether. 

In  the  western  part  of  Wabash  County,  then  a  part  of 
Edwards  County,  a  large  tract  of  land  was  bought  by 
Mr.  Adam  Corey,  which  has  since  been  settled  by  fami- 
lies from  England  and  Scotland. 


334     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

The  heart  of  tlie  Settlement,  taking  Albion  for  its  cen- 
tre, may  be  said  to  extend  ten  miles  north  and  seven 
miles  south;  between  the  Little  Wabash  on  the  west  and 
the  Bonpas  Creek  on  the  east,  a  breadth  of  about  twelve 
miles;  within  these  limits,  the  great  majority  are  English 
settlers,  but  more  than  as  many  Europeans  beyond  these 
bounds  make  up  for  the  number  of  Americans  within. 
The  general  peace  of  the  Settlement  has  never  been  dis- 
turbed by  quarrels  between  Englishmen  and  natives,  as 
such.  We  were  never  a  close  settlement,  as  the  Harmon- 
ites  or  Shakers.  We  never  sought  or  in  any  way  monopo- 
lized the  county -offices  or  the  magistracy.  But  for  the 
period,  when  Mr.  Pickering  was  in  the  Legislature,  our 
senators  and  representatives  have  all  been  natives.  Peace- 
able and  cordial  intercourse  has  been  maintained  between 
the  English  and  American  settlers,  excepting  at  the  con- 
vention limes,  and  for  a  short  time  after,  when  political 
excitement  added  virulence  to  private  feud. 

In  the  year  1836,  a  charter  for  a  railroad,  granted  by 
the  legislature,  from  Alton  to  Mt.  Carmel,  was  accepted 
by  the  people,  and  a  company  organized.  In  Indiana,  a 
company  was  formed  to  continue  the  road  to  New  Albany, 
at  the  falls  of  the  Ohio.  The  road  was  afterward  relin- 
quished to  the  State,  and  known  as  'the  Southern  Cross 
Railroad.  The  State  of  Illinois,  after  expending  between 
three  and  four  huixlred  thousand  dollars,  sold  out  all  its 
interest  in  this,  as  well  as  ever\-  other  State  work.  That 
State  interest  was  bought  by  Gen.  William  Pickering, 
through  whose  exertions  a  new  company  was  formed, 
uniting    the    two  companies    into  one    under    the    title  of 


BUILDING    OF   A   RAILROAD.  335 

the  Alton,  Mt.  Carmel  and  New-Albany  Railroad.  I  was 
president  of  the  Illinois  company  for  its  first  three  years. 
When  the  work  was  commenced  by  the  State,  a  heavy 
expenditure  was  made  near  Albion,  on  a  deep-cut. 

The  number  of  laborers  employed,  the  money  expended, 
and  the  hope  of  a  speedy  termination  of  the  work,  made, 
for  a  time,  everything  very  lively,  and  landed  property 
advanced;  but  not  so  much  so  as  in  more  speculative 
places.  The  working  of  the  road  brought  in  many  set- 
tlers. Irish  laborers,  proverbially  turbulent,  surrounded 
as  they  were  by  a  sober  population,  were  themselves  quiet 
and  well  behaved.  During  the  year  they  were  at  work, 
I  don't  recollect  a  disturbance  of  any  kind.  This  road, 
for  three  years,  gave  me  a  considerable  expenditure  of 
time  and  mone}^  An  appropriation  of  land  for  this  road 
was  twice  passed  in  the  senate,  but  lost  in  the  house  by 
six  votes;  and  subsequently  in  the  senate  by  one  vote. 

There  are  few  settlements  that  have  enjoyed  such  solid 
prosperity;  but  we  had  to  endure,  during  the  first  three 
years,  many  serious  annoyances  from  minor  causes,  then 
seriously  felt,  but  now  unknown.  Insects,  and  particu- 
larly mosquitoes,  were  very  numerous  and  dreadfully 
annoying.  The  bite  in  its  effect  resembled  more  the 
sting  of  a  bee.  Our  system  was  inflammatory.  The 
strong  English  constitution,  built  up  in  a  cool  climate, 
had  not  then  been  reduced  from  the  exhausting  effects, 
of  the  great  heat  experienced  in  the  American  sumrners. 
For  the  first  two  months  after  my  arrival  in  the  prairies, 
the  mosquito -bites  on  my  legs  inflamed  and  became 
irritable    sores,   preventing    me    from   walking,  at   a    time 


h 


336     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

when  my  utmost  activity  was  needed.  Now,  the  change 
of  constitution  is  so  complete  that  a  mosquito-bite  leaves 
no  inflammation.  The  English  constitution  seems  to  last 
about  two  years.  During  that  time,  the  Englishman  bears 
the  heat  of  summer  and  the  cold  of  winter  better  than 
the  natives.  After  that  time,  a  change  takes  place;  we 
feel  heat  less,  but  are  much  more  sensible  to  cold.  The 
acclimation,  or  changing  of  the  constitution  under  change 
of  climate,  sometimes  culminates  in  fever,  sometimes  by 
the  breaking  out  of  many  painful  boils.  This  change  also 
assumes  another  form,  in  which  no  decided  disease  can 
be  traced.  It  is  a  long  period  of  listlessness,  an  indis- 
position to  all  action;  and  this  longer  probatian  of  weari- 
ness and  weakness,  without  any  decided  pain,  accom- 
plishee  the  change  as  completely  as  a  violent  fever  or  a 
painful  eruption.  The  Americans  have  a  most  expressive 
word  for  this  indescribable  feeling  —  it  is  the  "  tires  "s 
"How  is  such  a  one.?"  "Oh!  he  has  got  the  tires." 
After  these  inflictions  are  over,  with  moderate  and  regu- 
lar living,  the  human  constitution  and  climate  act  har- 
moniously together. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

Difficulty  in  Establishing  Schools — A  certain  Density  of  Population 
Necessary — In  Town  or  Village  of  Spontaneous  Growth — Oswald 
W^arrington  keeps  School  at  Albion  in  its  Earliest  Days — Eng- 
lishmen and  New  Englanders  build  a  School-House  near  Albion 
— A  Colored  Man  Assists,  but  his  Children  are  not  Allowed  to 
go  to  School — Another  School-House — The  Scene  at  a  Country 
School— The  Little  Urchin  at  School— The  Older  Scholars— The 
Log  School-House  on  the  Frontier  an  Interesting  Object — Con- 
trasts with  the  Crowded  City-School — Permanent  Brick  School- 
House  at  Albion  —  Influences  of  the  School  on  the  Backwoods- 
men— The  Free-School  System  in  Illinois— Statistics  of  Educa- 
tion in  Edwards  County — Agricultural  Fair  at  Albion  in  1858 — 
Splendid  Display. 

In  all  new  countries  there  is  a  difficulty  in  establish- 
ing schools.  The  first  inhabitants,  the  backwoods  hunters, 
whose  cabins  are  five,  ten,  and  twenty  miles  apart,  can 
have  none.  Their  mode  of  life  requires  no  education  in 
the  scholastic  meaning  of  the  term.  Their  habits  are 
independent  of  literary  acquirements,  and  their  children 
grow  up  without  knowing  how  to  cast  up  the  most  sim- 
ple sum  by  the  rules  of  arithmetic,  or  write  a  word,  or 
read  a  sentence.  Yet  some  of  these  untaught  men,  by 
some  complex  mental  process  of  reason  and  arithmetic, 
are  capable  of  arriving  at  correct  results  sometimes  more 
speedily  than  a  scholar  in  figures.  Some  of  the  station- 
ary or  farming  class,  generally  poor,  and  settled  individ- 
ually, live  long  enough  to  bring  up  a  family  without  any 
22 


338     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

education.  In  such  cases,  it  is  when  the  country  has  not 
filled  up  rapidly,  and  they  have  been  left  standing  in 
their  solitary  situations  for  a  number  of  years.  In  settle- 
ments of  more  rapid  growth,  the  school  has  to  bide  its 
time.  In  a  country  which,  to  the  eye,  is  pretty  well  set- 
tled, oftentimes  no  school-house  appears. 

Standing  in  the  centre  of  a  moderate-sized  prairie,  the 
eye  may  trace  a  number  of  fine  farms  on  the  edge  of 
the  timber,  with  houses  perhaps  a  mile  apart,  and  this  line 
of  farms  may  extend  for  many  miles,  and  yet  the  inhabi- 
tants not  be  near  enough  to  reach  the  benefit  of  a  school. 
There  are  many  elegible  situations  in  the  open  prairie,  a 
mile  or  two  from  the  timber.  When  these  are  occupied, 
then  school-houses  immediately  appear.  There  must  be 
a  certain  density  of  population  before  schools  can  exist. 
No  matter  what  laws  may  exist  on  the  subject,  or  what 
school-fund  may  lie  in  the  treasury  of  the  State,  if  there 
are  not  children  sufficient  within  a  mile  of  a  school-house, 
there  can  be  no  school. 

As  I  have  heard,  a  man  of  some  eminence  and  ability, 
from  the  East,  came  into  the  State,  to  propose  to  the 
legislature  an  efficient  system  of  State  education.  By 
the  time  he  had  proceeded  to  the  large  prairies  that  lie 
in  the  middle  of  the  State,  he  saw  that  unless  there  was 
some  way  devised  for  inducing  farmers  to  live  contigu- 
ous to  each  other,  there  could  be  no  schools.  So  he  at 
once  postponed  his  plan,  and  either  went  or  sent  to 
Texas,  and  procured  a  considerable  quantity  of  osage- 
orange  seed,  and  opened  a  large  nursery  of  osage-orange 
plants,  for  hedges.      By  this  means,  he  thought   that  he 


THE   COMMON    SCHOOL.  339 

was  doing  more  for  the  cause  of  education  than  by  pro- 
posing the  best  educational  scheme  where  it  could  not 
be  applied. 

In  a  town  or  village,  however  humble,  a  school  is  soon 
got  up,  and  is  often  of  spontaneous  growth.  If  there  are 
only  a  half-score  families,  a  school  is  easily  assembled, 
and  a  suitable  teacher  is  often  found  on  the  spot.  It 
was  so  in  Albion,  in  its  earliest  days.  An  inhabitant 
from  a  populous  town  in  England,  with  a  large  family 
and  limited  means,  opened  school.  He  was  one  of  those 
persons  often  found  in  new  settlements,  a  man  of  town 
habits,  and  unsuited  to  country  life.  With  him,  the  boys 
got  a  common-school  education.  In  writing  he  excelled, 
and  there  are  many  men  who  owe  their  good  and  legi- 
ble writing  to  their  early  instruction  at  the  school  of  Mr. 
Oswald  Warrington,  who,  I  am  happy  to  say,  is  now  liv- 
ing, his  head  white  with  age,  a  respectable  tradesman  of 
Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

The  next  school  was  in  the  country,  some  three  miles 
from  Albion,  built  after  the  manner  that  schools  were 
then,  and  are  still  built  in  country  places.  Four  or  five 
English  farmers  and  two  or  three  New  Englanders,  liv- 
ing in  what  was  then  close  neighborhood,  none  being 
more  than  a  mile  from  the  common  centre,  assembled 
at  an  appointed  time.  Several  driving  their  ox-teams, 
and  more  with  axes,  went  to  a  neighboring  wood  (con- 
gress land,  of  course),  prepared  the  timber,  and  laid  it  in 
its  place.  The  raising  was  performed  in  the  usual  man- 
ner by  the  voluntary  and  united  labor  of  neighboring 
farmers  who  had  families  to  send  to  the  school.     A  mas- 


340     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

ter  was  speedily  found  and  installed;  a  young  man  of 
slender  frame  and  town  habits,  a  good  penman  and  good 
at  figures.  The  school  went  into  immediate  operation, 
was  long  carried  on  under  different  masters,  and,  I  believe, 
is  in  existence  at  this  day.  This  school  has  been  carried 
on  under  the  simple  rules  of  its  original  builders,  one  of 
which  was  that  those  who  labored  in  its  first  erection, 
should  have  a  preference  in  sending  their  children  in  case 
of  competition.  One  little  circumstance,  connected  with 
this  affair  should  not  be  omitted,  as  characteristic  of  the 
times  we  live  in.  Among  those  invited  to  assist  in  build- 
ing the  school-house,  was  a  neighboring  farmer,  a  colored 
man,  powerful  and  dexterous  in  the  use  of  the  axe.  He 
cheerfully  acceeded,  and  gave  his  full  share  of  the  labor. 
When  the  school  was  built,  and  the  master  about  to  enter 
on  his  duties,  the  colored  farmer  was  politely  informed 
that  he  must  not  think  of  sending  any  one  of  his  chil- 
dren to  school,  for  they  were  not  of  the  right  complexion. 
A  century  hence,  perhaps  both  our  prejudice  and  sense 
of  justice  may  be  open  to  criticism. 

The  third  school-house  built,  I  think,  was  a  few  miles 
north  of  Albion,  and  deeper  in  the  country.  In  passing 
along  the  road,  I  observed,  to  my  right  hand  in  the  woods, 
a  solitary  school-house,  but  no  dwellings  in  sight.  I  have 
seen  many  such  and  wondered  where  the  scholars  came 
from.  On  closer  observation,  I  have  found  these  school- 
houses  situated  centrally  and  in  the  right  place.  Of  the 
one  I  had  passed,  I  found  there  were  three  farms  within 
a-quarter  of  a  mile,  five  within  a  half-mile,  and  eight 
within  the  radius  of  a  mile.     Before  the  teacher  arrives, 


SCHOOL   CHILDREN — PLEASING   DESCRIPTION.      341 

children  of  all  ages  are  found  assembled  about  the  house 
in  high  exchange.  Some  are  chasing  each  other  round 
the  house;  others  at  hide-and-seek  among  the  trees;  an- 
other group  watching  a  dog  barking  at  a  squirrel  up  a 
tree ;  some  sit  on  the  doorstep,  cracking  nuts.  The  girls 
in  little  groups,  chatting  confidentially  to  each  other,  and 
one  or  two,  more  careful  than  the  rest,  conning  their  les- 
sons in  the  silent  and  nearly  vacant  school-house.  On 
the  arrival  of  the  teacher,  they  rush  in,  make  a  slight 
obeisance  to  the  teacher,  and  take  their  places  in  silence. 
They  are  evidently  emulous  of  each  other.  The  favorite 
exercises  seem  to  be  short  recitations  or  spelling.  And 
this  they  do,  the  boys  especially,  in  a  full,  strong  voice, 
not  always  harmonious.  The  countenances  of  all  are 
bright  with  excitement.  Their  clean -washed  faces  and 
hands,  their  coarse  garments  tidy  and  neat,  give  to  each 
individual  a  self-confidence  sufficiently  apparent. 

A  little  urchin  on  the  floor  seems  out  of  place,  and 
looks  different  from  the  others;  traces  of  tears  are  on  his 
dirty  little  face,  he  looks  lost  and  wonderingly  around. 
"What  do  you  do  here.''"  says  the  teacher,  not  unkindly. 
"Oh,  sir,"  says  his  sister,  "he  cried  so  to  come;  mother 
said  he  might  this  once."  Before  the  morning  is  out,  he 
is  seen  trying  to  make  marks  on  the  dust  of  the  floor, 
with  his  tiny  finger,  in  imitation  of  his  sister  on  the  slate, 
and  by-and-by  laid  away  in  a  corner,  fast  asleep. 

A  little  after  school  has  begun,  two  tall,  stout  chaps 
enter,  men  grown,  take  their  seats,  and  begin  conning 
their  lessons  from  their  school-books,  as  the  children  are 
doing.      Who    are    they.?      They    are    two    of   that    class 


342     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS    COUNTY. 

brought  up  in  the  soHtude  of  the  wilderness  without  a 
chance  of  learning  a  letter.  They  are  now  endeavoring  to 
regain  their  lost  time  at  the  first  school-house  within  their 
reach,  with  equal  diligence,  but  more  painful  effort,  than  is 
given  by  their  young  compeers. 

Masters  in  our  first  country  schools  have  often  told  me 
that  they  have  had  some  scholars  older  than  themselves. 
The  school  over,  a  general  gambol  ensues,  and  the  child- 
ren, dividing  into  two  or  three  groups,  take  their  separate 
ways.  Subdividing  again,  they  follow  the  scarce  percepti- 
ble tracks  made  by  their  little  naked  feet,  and  individually 
arrive  at  their  distant  homes.  In  this  wav  it  is  that  the 
first  school-houses  spring  up;  and  as  little  neighborhoods 
are  formed,  so  they  arise  all  over  the  country. 

The  erecting  of  a  little  log  school- house  in  a  frontier 
settlement  is  to  me  a  far  more  interesting  object  than  a 
Girard  College,  with  all  its  costly  and  elaborate  domes 
and  columns.  They  are  the  seed-beds  of  knowledge, 
giving  permanence  to  the  growth  of  our  organized  and 
complex  system  of  society.  The  young  children  are 
redeemed  from  the  dullness  that  must  in  some  degree 
exist  in  isolated  families,  and  are  brought  into  social  life. 
With  many  of  their  own  age,  they  mingle  with  children 
older  and  younger,  of  various  moods  and  tempers.  An 
epitome  of  the  world  they  are  destined  to  live  in.  Their 
sympathies  are  awakened,  their  manners  improved,  and  a 
thirst  for  knowledge  is  often  engendered  by  the  key  to  its 
treasures  being  placed  in  their  hand.  The  amount  of 
learning  may  not  be  much,  but  the  avenues  to  knowledge 
are  opened,  never  more  to  be  closed  to  any,  and  by  some 


FIRST   PUBLIC-SCHOOL   HOUSE   IN   ALBION.  343 

to  be  followed  to  the  highest  sources  of  light  and  intelli- 
gence. Small  as  the  amount  of  learning  may  be,  in  the 
fertile  soil  on  which  it  is  sown  it  is  all  retained.  For  these 
little  country  children,  full  of  health  and  strength,  accept 
the  little  intellectual  training  in  their  airy  school,  as  an 
agreeable  occupation,  and  to  some  as  a  positive  recreation. 
What  a  pleasing  contrast  this  with  the  children  of  a 
crowded  city  school.  There,  many  of  them  in  feeble 
health,  confined  in  a  frttid  atmosphere,  with  their  attention 
far  too  severely  taxed,  their  labors  too  long  continued, 
return  to  their  tasks  with  reluctance,  and  feel  them  as  a 
hated  toil. 

It  was  in  1837  oi'  ^^3^  that  the  first  permanent  school- 
house  was  erected  in  Albion.  A  good  two -story  brick - 
building.  It  has  been  carried  on  under  various  masters, 
and  is  now  used  as  a  free-school. 

When  the  new  country  school  has  been  in  operation  a 
single  week,  its  influence  is  felt,  both  on  parents  and 
children.  Occasionally  will  be  seen  a  boy  ten  or  twelve 
years  old  leaning  against  a  door-post,  intently  gazing  in 
upon  the  scholars  at  their  lessons;  after  a  time  he  slowly 
and  moodily  goes  away.  He  does  not  look  like  the  other 
children;  his  dress  is  less  tidy,  his  hair  uncombed,  and 
perhaps  his  face  and  hands  unwashed.  Neither  has  he  the 
bright  and  self-confident  look  of  the  scholars.  He 
belongs,  perhaps,  to  some  farmer's  family  residing  outside 
the  radius  of  the  one- mile  school- circle,  or  what  is  more 
likely  to  some,  backwood's  hunter  within  the  circle.  The 
solitary  boy  feels  his  exclusion  from  some  benefit  enjoyed 
by  all  the  other  children,  giving  to  them  a  bond  of  fellow- 


344     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

ship.  This  feeHng  soon  ripens  into  an  intense  desire  to  go 
to  school,  or  to  quit  the  neighborhood  and  go  deeper  into 
the  wilderness,  far  away  from  an  odious  comparison.  A 
crisis  has  now  arrived  in  the  fate  of  this  backwoods 
family.  All  other  influences  of  encroaching  civilization  it 
has  withstood,  but  the  influence  of  the  school  can  no 
longer  be  resisted.  To  see  all  the  children  of  his  neigh- 
bors advancing  in  their  own  self-respect,  and  in  the  respect 
of  others,  whilst  his  own  family  are  left  on  the  dead  level 
of  ignorance,  on  which  only  a  few  days  before  they  all 
rested  together,  creates  a  feeling  he  can  not  stand.  He 
can  no  longer  say,  I  am  as  good  as  you.  He  feels  that  he 
is  a  notch  below  them;  and,  if  he  decides  to  remain,  he 
must  send  his  children  to  school  and  join  the  ranks  of 
civilization.  The  only  other  alternative,  and  the  one  most 
usually  taken,  is  to  dive  deeper  into  the  forest,  and  in  its 
solitude  regain  his  equanimity. 

Thus  it  was  for  years  that  education  struggled  on.  In  a 
few  more  years  the  people  demanded  the  distribution  of 
the  school-fund.  This  temporary  expedient  was  soon 
found  insufficient  for  any  permanent  good.  Within  these 
five  years  the  whole  system  has  been  changed,  and  educa- 
tion is  supported  by  State -and -county  tax  on  property; 
and  this  system  of  free-schools  for  all  seems  to  have  given 
a  new  impulse  to  education  all  over  the  State.  Imperfect 
as  this  law  confessedly  is,  under  proper  modifications, 
would  reduce  by  one-half  the  thirty-five  thousand  officers 
now  required  for  its  administration;  but  the  people  having 
taken  to  it  with  such  hearty  good-will,  the  superintendent 
forbears  to  ask  a  hasty  repeal  of  the  law.     "Scarcely  two 


SCHOOL   SYSTEM   IN    ILLINOIS.  345 

years  have  elapsed"  says  the  report,  "shice  the  free-school 
system  went  into  operation  in  this  State,  and  in  that  brief 
period  it  has  nearly  swept  the  entire  field  of  the  thousands 
of  private  schools  that    then  existed.     Truly,   those    who 
still  cling  so  tenaciously  to  the  old  feudal  and  anti-Ameri- 
can system  of  educating  the  rich  alone,  will  soon  have  to 
abandon    their    ground    for    the    only    just    principle,    of 
making  the  property  of  the   State  educate  the  children  of 
the  State,  has  nearly  taken  entire  possession  of  the  public 
mind." 

i   now  make  an  extract  from  the  "Biennial  Report  of 
the  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  of  the  State  of 
Illinois  for   1858,"  which  gives  the  statistics  of  education 
in  Edwards  County,  the  smallest  county  in  the  State: 
"Whole  number  of'schools  in  the  County,   -         -         47 
The  average  number  of  months  taught,         -         -       6 
The  number  of  male  teachers,  -         -         -         -         16 

The  number  of  female  teachers,    -         -         -         -     23 

Average  salaries  of  male  teachers,     -     per  month,  $25 
Average  salaries  of  female  teachers,       per  month,  $15 
Number  of  male  scholars,  _         _         _         -     1166 

Number  of  female  scholars,  _         _         -         -  896 

Number  of  new  school-houses  built  during  the  year,     1 1 
Number  of  school-houses,    -         -         -         -         -     -5 

Number  of  white  persons  under  twenty-one,      -     3 no 
Number  of  white  persons  between  five  and 

twenty-one,    ------      1762 

Amount  paid  to  teachers,       -         -         -         -       $3447 

For  building,  repairing,  and  renting  school-houses,  $1454 
Whole  amount  received  for  school  purposes,  -       $45^9 


346     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

Whole  amount  expended  for  school  purposes,        $5116 

Whole  number  of  colored  persons  in  the  County 

under  twenty-one  years  of  age,        -         -         34 

Whole  number  of  colored  persons  in  the  County 

between  the  ages  of  five  and  twenty-one,         2 1 " 

There  is  nothing  more  than  the  common-school  educa- 
tion existing  in  the  little  county  of  Edwards.  The  num- 
ber of  children  attending  school  is  large  in  proportion  to 
the  population. 

There  appears  to  be  no  mention  of  any  colored  scholars. 

The  very  different  deportment  of  the  people  at  their 
assemblages  now,  when  compared  with  their  behavior  at 
the  gatherings  on  public  occasions,  mentioned  in  the  early 
part  of  this  history,  chiefly  induces  me  to  mention  the 
annual  fair  held  at  Albion,  October,  i860,  at  which  I  was 
present.  Edwards  County  was  among  the  first,  if  not  the 
very  first  county  in  the  State,  to  institute  a  fair  for  the 
exhibition  of  live-stock  and  farm -produce.  I  think  the 
first  exhibition  took  place  at  Albion  in  the  fall  of  1838. 
The  show  of  cattle,  sheep,  and  hogs  was  then  respecta- 
ble, including  several  animals  of  especial  merit.  A  year 
or  two  afterward,  specimens  of  the  vegetables  of  the  farm 
and  flowers  from  the  garden  were  added.  For  several 
years,  it  did  not  increase,  and  seemed  to  excite  but  little 
interest.     It  faded  away  and  was  discontinued. 

In  1858,  new  life  was  infused,  and  a  more  regular  organ- 
ization effected.  A  neat  little  fair- ground,  enclosing  a 
pleasant  grove  of  six  acres,  was  well  prepared  and  en- 
closed, furnished  with  all  the  appliances  necessary  for  the 
exhibition  of  live-stock,  farm  and  garden  products,  and 


THE   EDWARDS   COUNTY   FAIR   IN    1 858.  347 

Specimens  in  various  branches  of  industry  and  art.  The 
arrangements  for  the  comfort  and  refreshment  of  the 
spectators  were  also  complete.  The  list  of  premiums  was 
varied  and  numerous.  It  was  immediately  sustained  by 
an  excellent  exhibition  in  every  department,  and  met  by 
the  public  with  cheerful  good-will,  and  a  liberal  patron- 
age. 

This  year,  happening  to  be  near,  I  went  to  the  fair, 
and  was  much  pleased  with  the  neatness  of  all  the 
arrangements,  and  with  the  spirit  in  which  the  whole 
thing  was  conducted.  To  my  surprise,  I  found  as  good 
and  commodious  an  amphitheatre,  and  as  well  filled  with 
well-dressed  ladies  as  is  to  be  found  in  any  fair  in  the 
country.  A  full  band  discoursed  its  music  on  a  stand  in 
front,  during  the  interludes  of  exhibition.  The  vegeta- 
bles, fruits,  and  farm-productions  were  of  a  superior  order. 
The  bouquets  were  numerous,  tasteful,  and  gay,  and  some 
living  specimens  of  handsome  flowers  in  pots.  Cakes, 
bread,  confectionery,  pickles,  preserves,  and  specimens  of 
every  household  art  were  abundant,  neat,  and  good. 
Needle -work,  useful  and  ornamental  embroidery,  and  a 
great  variety  of  fancy  work,  equal  to  anything  of  the 
kind.  Of  penmanship  and  drawing,  much  better  speci- 
mens than  I  expected  the  little  county  could  produce. 
The  supply  and  arrangements  for  refreshments  were  good ; 
coffee,  tea,  cider,  and  lemonade  in  abundance.  Dinners, 
hot  and  cold,  served  with  an  adjunct  not  always  found 
in  like  places  of  more  pretension,  a  clean  table-cloth. 
There  were  some  thousands  of  people,  well  mannered, 
well    dressed,    and    good    tempered,    rationally    enjoying 


348     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

themselves,  by    encouraging   and    promoting   a   common 
good. 

My  memory  was  carried  back  to  the  time  when  whisky 
was  the  only  cheer,  and  a  rough-and-tumble  fight  the 
only  excitement.  The  managers  tell  me,  so  well  assured 
are  they  of  countenance  and  support,  that  they  shall 
double  the  area  of  the  enclosed  ground,  and  all  other 
appliances  for  the  fair  in  time  for  next  year's  exhibition. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

Success  of  the  English  Settlement — What  Contributed  to  it — Absence 
of  Land-Speculation — Happy  Adaptation  of  the  Country  to  Set- 
tlers—Prairie-Land  a  Source  of  National  Wealth  — Sterling  Quali- 
ties of  the  English  Laborers  and  Farmers  —  Solid  Prosperity  of 
the  English  Settlement  in  Illinois  —  The  First  Annoyances  of 
the  Early  Settlers — The  Prairie-Fires— First-Founders  of  Settle- 
ments rarely  attain  Material  Advantages — What  they  are  Com- 
pelled to  Do — The  Fate  of  William  Penn — The  Compensations 
— Striking  Incidents  in  the  History  of  the  State  —  First -Settlers 
Accounted  for — The  Destiny  which  Befell  the  First-Founders — 
The  Remains  of  Morris  Birkbeck  Repose  in  the  Graveyard  at 
New  Harmony,  Ind. — What  became  of  his  Children — The  Pecun- 
iary Difficulties  and  Disasters  of  George  Flower — Leaves  Illinois 
with  his  Family  in  1849,  never  to  Return  to  Live— Cross  the 
Great  W^abash  —  Begin  the  World  Anew  in  New  Harmony — 
Removes  to  Mt.  Vernon,  Ind.,  in  i860— The  Last  Stage  of  Life's 
Journey — Ready  to  Lie   Down  to  Sleep. 

The  success  of  the  English  Settlement  is  not  to  be 
attributed  to  any  single  cause.  The  absence  of  land- 
speculation  in  the  first-founders  of  the  Settlement  and  the 
discouragement  they  gave  to  non-resident  speculators, 
were  the  chief  circumstances  that  preserved  its  healthy 
and  progressive  growth,  and  secured  for  many  years  the 
vacant  lands  around  us  to  the  class  for  which  they  were 
intended,  the  farm-laborers  and  farmers  with  small  capital, 
who  were  to  occupy  the  quarter-sections  as  soon  as  they 
purchased  them. 


350     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

As  early  as  1817,  I  was  solicited  to  purchase  land  for 
persons  living  in  the  Eastern  cities,  and  well-wishers  to  the 
Settlement.  This  I  was  reluctant  to  do,  though  regretting 
to  disappoint  some  valued  friends,  to  whom  I  owed  much 
obligation.  Then  an  inquiry  was  made  as  to  whether 
land  was  secured  (such  was  the  phraseology)  for  those  that 
might  be  expected  the  following  year;  accompanied  by 
an  offer  of  any  amount  of  capital,  and  of  giving  personal 
service  in  recommending  our  Settlement,  and  in  forward- 
ing newly-arrived  emigrants  from  Europe,  with  money  and 
without.  I  have  reason  to  think  that  similar  offers  were 
made  to  Mr.  Birkbeck,  for  I  recollect  a  short  letter  of  his 
published,  declining  to  invest  any  money  in  land  for  non- 
residents. Thus  protected,  the  little-farmer  with  his 
slender  means,  found  the  quarter-section  preserved  for  his 
immediate  possession,  without  being  compelled  to  pay  an 
enhanced  price  to  a  previous  purchaser.  A  valuable 
experience  was  gained  in  the  gradual  taking  up  of  land. 
Of  course,  the  most  inviting  situations  were  first  secured. 
The  last  land,  left  as  refuse,  was  flat,  wet  prairie,  that  had 
not  much  thickness  of  hazle  mould,  so  much  sought  after 
by  the  farmer.  The  surface  wet,  but  aridly  dry  in  summer, 
with  a  subsoil  of  whitish  clay.  The  Americans  said  they 
could  not  get  a  living  off  such  land.  The  English  labor- 
ers, by  a  little  judicious  ditching,  which  made  part  of  their 
fencing,  found  it  to  be  the  best  soil  for  small  grain  and 
meadow  in  the  country.  Some  of  our  best  farms  are  to 
be  found  on  such  land.  The  character  of  the  Settlement 
would  have  been  changed  if  based  upon  land-speculation, 
and    our    characters    too.      No    doubt,    with    influential 


ABSENCE   OF   SPECULATION.  35  I 

partners  in  the  East,  who  would  see  every  emigrant  with 
capital,  and  every  ship-load  of  poor  emigrants,  accredited 
with  our  name  and  the  growing  fame  of  our  Settlement,  a 
large  and  promiscuous  emigration  would  have  set  toward 
us,  and  money  might  have  been  made  by  the  speculation. 
But  the  gains  so  made  would  have  been  mingled  with  the 
tears  of  distress  and  the  sighs  of  disappointment.  The 
laborer  must  have  remained  a  laborer  for  others  many 
more  years,  before  he  could  have  saved  enough  to  have 
paid  the  advance  that  would  have  satisfied  us  and  our 
Eastern  partners. 

The  little-farmer,  with  just  money  enough  to  buy  land 
at  the  Government  price  and  build  a  small  cabin,  must 
have  either  labored  for  hire  on  the  Settlement  or  gone 
outside  into  the  wilderness,  and  suffered  the  privations  of 
a  solitary  settler.  By  declining  this,  as  some  thought, 
tempting  offer,  we  may  have  been  blamed  by  others,  but 
never  by  ourselves.  A  considerable  land-speculation  was 
made  just  before  we  came  into  the  country,  by  a  Virgin- 
ian; but  when  there  are  no  inhabitants  it  is  difficult  for  a 
speculator  to  know  where  best  to  make  a  purchase,  and 
this  speculation  was  so  widely  scattered,  extending  into 
many  counties,  that  it  did  but  little  harm.  To  this  early 
policy,  little  appreciated,  perhaps,  because  but  little 
known,  more  than  any  other  act  of  its  founders,  the 
Settlement  owes  its  steady  and  progressive  growth.  It 
was  the  invisible  ALgis,  protecting  labor  and  industry,  in 
reaping  their  sure  rewards. 

Another  favorable  circumstance  was  the  happy  adapta- 


'  352     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

tion  of  the  country  to  the  settlers.  Had  our  European 
settlers  been  placed  in  a  heavy-timbered  country,  they 
would  have  desponded,  despaired,  and  died.  The  cost  of 
denuding  a  heavy-wooded  district  of  its  timber  and  pre- 
paring it  for  cultivation,  is  not  less  than  twelve  dollars  an 
acre.  What  a  source  of  national  wealth  this  item  is  to  a 
state  like  Illinois  with  its  thirty-six  million  acres  of  prairie 
land.  Every  individual,  thus  fortunately  placed,  is  saved 
a  generation  of  hard  'and  unprofitable,  labor.  This 
circumstance  is  not  sufficiently  appreciated  by  a  pioneer 
settler. 

One  element  of  success  may  be  traced  to  a  happy 
proportion  among  the  settlers  of  men  of  money,  men  of 
intelligence,  and  rrien  of  toil.  A  settlement  all  of  needy 
laborers  would  have  suffered  much,  and  would  probably 
have  dispersed, — as  Mr.  Slade's  settlement  did,  and  as 
many  others  have  done.  It  was  the  men  of  property  that 
sustained  the  weight  of  the  Settlement  for  the  first  fiv^e 
years,  not  only  b}-  its  first  supply  of  food  and  the  building 
of  its  first  houses,  but  in  hiring  the  laborers  as  they  came 
from  the  old  country.  This  gave  to  the  poor,  but  hard- 
working man,  some  knowledge  of  the  ways  of  the  country, 
while  he  was  laying  up  a  little  store  of  money  for  his  own 
independent  beginning.  The  sterling  qualities  found  in 
the  great  bulk  of  the  English  laborers  and  little- farmers, 
is  another  element  of  success.  Their  general  sobriety, 
persevering  industry,  and  habitual  hard  work,  carried  them 
through  periods  of  long  discouragements  to  final  success. 
The    first- founders    gave   what   they   had    of    ability   and 


A   FURIOUS   STORM.  353 

money  to  the  very  last.  All  these  circumstances  working 
together  have  given  that  solid  prosperity,  which  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  English  Settlement  in  Illinois. 

There  are  certain  annoyances  and  losses  to  the  first- 
settler  not  set  down  in  the  bill,  and  never  thought  of.  In 
the  first  years  of  a  settlement  in  a  new  country,  the  forces 
of  nature  are  strong  and  the  defences  of  man  are  weak. 
Soon  after  my  first  arrival  in  the  Settlement  in  the  month 
of  August,  the  season  proved  very  rainy — daily  thunder- 
storms, with  strong  gusts  of  wind.  The  storms  of  wind 
and  rain  would  drive  through  and  through  the  unchinked 
and  doorless  cabin,  drenching  every  thing  within.  The 
first  prairie- fires  come  with  terrific  force,  devouring  all 
before  them.  I  had  made  some  progress  in  enclosing  a 
thirty-acre  field,  and  had  cut  a  considerable  stack  of 
prairie-hay,  which  stood  at  the  bottom  of  the  field.  A 
prairie-fire  approached  us  from  the  south;  it  soon  con- 
sumed the  hay-stack,  what  there  was  completed  of  the 
fence,  and  all  the  timber  prepared  for  it.  It  crossed  the 
prairie,  driven  by  a  furious  wind,  when  stopped  by  a  ditch, 
which  fortunately  had  been  dug,  running  in  front  of  my 
cabins,  and  about  twenty- five  feet  from  them,  but  the 
flames  lashed  over  into  the  house,  and  suddenly  went  out 
in  dense  smoke,  almost  suffocating  us.  Although  checked 
in  front  of  the  house,  the  fire  continued  its  course,  sweep- 
ing by  on  each  flank,  in  two  long  columns  of  flame, 
consuming  prairie  and  woodland  all  over  the  country. 
This  description  of  losses  and  annoyances,  once  overcome, 

23 


354     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

are  gone  forever;   but  at  a  time  when  he  is  unprepared, 
they  often  inflict  suffering  and  great  loss  of  property. 

It  is  an  historical  fact,  that  the  discoverers  of  new  coun- 
tries and  the  first-founders  of  settlements  in  new  countries, 
rarely  attain   any  material  advantages.      It   is  those  who 
follow  in  the  track  they  have   beaten,  who  shelter  under 
the  defences  they  have  made,   that  reap  the  more  solid 
advantages.     There  are  a  run  of  expenses  that  the  first- 
founders  of  settlements  must  incur.    The  expenses  of  their 
first  voyages  and  journeys,  their  publications,  their  return 
for  their  own  families  and  other  settlers,  are  among  the 
first  of   their  expenses.      Others   follow,  that   for  a    long 
series  of  years  can   scarcely  be   avoided.     One    is  called 
upon  to  stand  first  in  subscription  and  personal  exertion 
to  promote  measures  of  public  benefit,  although  of  doubt- 
ful attainment  after  long-continued  exertion.     If  a  school, 
or  a  library,  or  any  other  local  institution  is  needed,  he  is 
expected  to  give  his  time  for  their  advancement  and  his 
money  for  their  support.     Often  at  some  distant   hall   of 
legislation  he  is  induced  to  remain  for  weeks  and  months 
watching  or  aiding  in  the  passage  of  some  law  that  might 
benefit  his  place  and  people,  or  to  ward  off  some  enact- 
ment of  an  injurious  character.     From   habit,   as  well  as 
inclination,  he  yields  to  solicitations,  although  often  abused 
and   maligned   for  the  part  he  has  taken.     The  article  of 
postage  alone  is  a  heavy  charge,  or  rather  was  so,  when 
letters  were  from  twelve  to  twenty-five  cents  each.     I  have 
paid  many  hundred  dollars  in  this  way  replying  to  inquir- 
ies, and  giving  information  in  which  I  was  in  no  way  to  be 


THE   FIRST- FOUNDERS.  355 

personally  benefited.  The  entertainment  of  travelers  and 
visitors  is  an  incidental  but  often  a  heavy  charge,  and  in 
many  instances  absorbs  a  considerable  share  of  income, 
however  large  it  may  be.  His  attention  otherwise  direct- 
ed, his  private  business  of  course  suffers.  His  settlement 
may  be  prosperous,  but  as  an  individual  he  must  meet 
pecuniary  ruin.  The  business  of  a  first- founder's  life  is 
more  of  a  public  than  a  private  character,  but  not  of  that 
description  that  gives  him  any  pecuniary  reward.  The 
assistance  he  may  have  given  to  poor  families  is  seldom,  if 
ever,  returned  in  money.  From  the  unfortunate  and 
dishonest  he  gets  no  repayment.  From  the  honest,  but 
poor,  he  has  to  take  what  they  have  alone  to  give,  their 
labor,  and  that  perhaps  obliged  to  be  taken  at  periods 
when  not  applicable  to  any  beneficial  purpose. 

"Imprudent,"  say  some;  "served  him  right,"  say  others; 
"why  did  not  he  take  care  of  himself"  Wherever 
prudence  greatly  prevails  as  an  element  of  character  nO' 
explorers  or  first-founders  of  settlements  will  be  found. 

William  Penn,  one  the  most  disinterested  of  men,  could 
not  escape  the  calumnies  propagated  against  him,  nor  the 
pecuniary  loss  entailed  on  men  of  his  stamp.  If  any  man 
could  have  been  shielded  from  the  losses  and  embarass- 
ments  of  all  those  who  found  colonies,  Penn's  favorable 
position  should  have  saved  him.  He  was  possessed  of  an 
income  of  four  thousand  pounds  sterling  per  annum.  His 
large  territory  came  to  him  by  grant  from  the  crown,  not 
by  purchase.  His  colony  was  on  the  sea-shore.  Himself 
and    all  who  followed    him   escaped   the   labor,   risk,   and 


356     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT   IN   EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

expense  of  a  thousand  miles  of  interior  travel,  yet  we  see 
in  his  letter  to  his  wife  a  recommendation  to  be  careful  of 
her  expenses,  by  reason  of  his  many  debts.  In  reply  to 
some  who  accused  him  of  selfish  motives,  he  says:  "I  am 
day  and  night  spending  my  life,  my  time,  my  money,  and 
am  not  sixpence  enriched  by  this  greatness.  I  am  to  the 
people  of  this  place  in  travails,  watchings,  spendings,  and 
to  my  servants,  every  way  freely,  not  like  a  selfish  man." 
He  even  found  it  necessary  to  return  to  England  to  rebut 
the  charges  of  selfishness  and  peculation  that  were  raised 
against  him,  whi,ch  for  a  time  checked  emigration  to 
Pennsylvania,  and  prevented  personal  well-wishers  and 
friends  from  following  him,  with  his  damaged  reputation. 
His  enemies,  fearing  his  influence,  reported  him  dead,  and 
that  he  died  a  Jesuit — a  term  of  great  opprobrium  at  that 
day — only  to  be  confuted  by  his  personal  appearance  in 
England. 

But  there  are  fortunately  some  compensations  in  store 
for  those  whom  the  world  regards  as  visionary  characters. 
Their  actions  have  been  unselfish.  An  unselfish  life  leaves 
few  regrets  and  no  repinings.  The  first  explorer  or 
founder  of  a  settlement  in  a  new  and  distant  country, 
follows  the  instincts  of  his  nature  and  the  promptings  of 
his  early  being.  In  early  manhood  the  dreamy  imagin- 
ings of  his  youth  prompt  to  action.  He  takes  journeys 
and  voyages.  He  has  intercourse  with  a  variety  of  mem- 
bers of  the  great  human  family,  living  under  institutions, 
language,  climate,  and  a  host  of  other  circumstances,  all 
different  from  his  own.     From  a  local  and  stationary  being 


THE   RECOMPENSE.  357 

he  becomes  a  cosmopolite.  He  has  intercourse  with  all 
classes,  from  the  gifted,  the  intellectual,  the  educated,  of 
every  grade  of  mind  and  morals,  to  the  lowest  specimens 
of  humanity,  the  dregs  of  civilization.  His  local  habits 
become  changed,  many  of  his  prejudices  are  swept  away, 
opinions  altered  or  modified,  and  his  mental  vision 
extended.  He  pierces  through  civilization,  and  stands  in 
uninhabited  regions.  There  he  sees  what  none  who  come 
after  him  and  fall  into  the  routine  of  civilized  life  can  ever 
see;  nature  in  the  plenitude  of  its  perfection;  its  varied 
beauties,  undisturbed  and  undistorted  by  art;  the  forest  in 
its  native  grandeur,  unscathed  by  the  axe;  the  prairie, 
with  its  verdure  and  acres  of  brilliant  flowers;  the 
beauties  of  the  prospect  varying  at  every  step,  and  limited 
in  extent  only  by  his  power  of  vision.  All  these  scenes, 
with  their  accompanying  influences,  exhibited  under  the 
varying  aspects  of  light  and  shade,  day  and  night, 
calm  and  storm,  have  surrounded  him.  His  being  has 
received  the  impress  of  them  all  in  solitude  and  silence. 
Refreshed,  strengthened,  and  purified,  he  feels,  for  a  time 
at  least,  superior  to  the  irritations  and  annoyances  of  an 
imperfect  civilization;  for  there  is  in  the  changeful  heart 
of  man  a  deep  response  to  the  ever-changing  aspects  of 
nature. 

Some  striking  incidents  in  the  history  of  the  State 
marked  the  period  of  our  arrival  and  settlement.  These 
were  the  exodus  of  the  Indians,  the  extinction  of  the 
buffalo,  the  elk,  and  the  beaver.  Near  to  where  Albion 
now  stands,  three  years  before  its  commencement,  stood 


358     ENGLISH   SETTLEMENT    IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

the  populous  village  of  the  Piankeshavv  Indians.  The 
year  before  we  arrived,  the  last  buffalo  was  killed.  The 
year  after  our  arrival,  the  last  elk  was  killed,  as  before 
related.  Two  or  three  solitary  beavers  remained  but  a 
few  years  longer. 

Many  of  those  mentioned  as  first-settlers  are  now  liv- 
ing in  independent  circumstances,  hearty,  hale,  old  men, 
enjoying  themselves  in  their  own  way.  Their  children 
have  grown  up  and  taken  their  stations  in  life,  mostly  as 
farmers,  and  many  of  them  rejoice  in  the  sight  of  the 
third  generation  of  their  offspring — their  great-grandchil- 
dren. Having  accounted  for  the  bulk  of  the  first-settlers 
in  their  past  and  present  state,  let  us  see  where  the  two 
first-founders  are,  and  if  their  destinies  differ  from  men  of 
their  class  and  kind. 

Morris  Birkbeck  lies  neither  in  his  native  land  nor  in 
the  State  of  his  adoption,  but  dead  and  buried  in  the 
graveyard  of  New  Harmony,  Ind.  His  second  daughter, 
Mrs.  Hanks,  lies  buried  in  the  City  of  Mexico.  Two  sons 
are  living  far  apart  from  each  other  in  the  same  republic. 
The  eldest  daughter,  Mrs.  Pell,  with  her  family,  are  in  the 
distant  land  of  Australia.  One  of  his  sons  lives  in  Eng- 
land. His  house  at  Wanborough  (in  the  English  Settle- 
ment of  Illinois)  has  long  since  been  pulled  down;  and, 
I  believe,  no  property  in  the  Settlement  remains  to  any 
member  of  his  family.  One  only  of  his  descendants  sur- 
vives him  in  the  United  States — the  daughter  of  his  eldest 
son,  Mrs.  Prudence  Birkbeck  Ford  of  New  Harmony,  Ind. 

The  last  three  years  of  George  Flower's  life  in  Illinois 


"READY   TO    LIE   DOWN   TO    SLEEP."  359 

were  marked  by  pecuniary  difficulties  and  disasters.  His 
house,  flock,  and  farm,  sold  at  a  low  price,  passed  to  the 
hands  of  a  stranger.  In  the  year  1849,  himself  and  wife, 
his  two  youngest  sons  and  youngest  daughter,  left  Illinois, 
never  more  to  return  as  residents.  They  crossed  the  Great 
Wabash  with  household  furniture  and  some  family  plate, 
with  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  in  cash,  to  begin  the  world 
anew  in  the  pleasant  town  of  New  Harmony,  Ind.  In 
i860,  he  is  residing  in  the  town  of  Mount  Vernon,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ohio,  seventy-four  years  of  age,  possessed 
of  a  sound  constitution,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  good 
health.  From  deafness,  much  increased  within  the  last 
ten  years,  deprived  thereby  of  the  solace  of  conversation, 
he  has  to  draw  more  largely  from  the  resources  offered 
by  book,  pen,  and  pencil.  In  poverty,  but  not  in  desti- 
tution, happy  in  his  children,  and  blest  in  the  companion- 
ship of  the  dear  partner  of  his  life,*  who  has  shared  with 
him  the  toils,  anxieties,  and  happy  days  of  the  past,  they 
both  enliven  the  last  stage  of  life's  journey  by  cheerful 
reminiscences  of  the  past  and  enjoyment  of  the  present; 
accepting  the  prerogative  accorded  to  age,  of  extracting 
happiness   from  a  multitude  of  minor   sources,  unheeded 

*  As  applied  to  a  happy  domestic  life,  such  as  that  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George 
Flower,  how  true  are  the  following  beautiful  observations  of  Chateaubriand, 
as  found  in  his  "  Genius  of  Christianity  " : 

"  Habit  and  long  life  together  are  more  necessary  to  happiness,  and  even 
love,  than  is  generally  imagined.  No  one  is  happy  with  the  object  of  his 
attachment  until  he  has  passed  many  days,  and  above  all,  many  days  of  mis- 
fortune with  her.  The  married  pair  must  know  each  other  to  the  bottom 
of  their  souls;  the  mysterious  veil,  which  covered  the  two  spouses  in  the 
primitive  church,  must  be  raised  in  its  inmost  folds,  how  closely  soever  it 
may  be  kept  drawn  to  the  rest  of  the  world. " 


36o     ENGLISH    SETTLEMENT   IN    EDWARDS   COUNTY. 

by  youth  and  overlooked  by  middle- age,  they  probably 
gather  more  flowers  in  the  evening  of  life  than  they  did 
in  the  noon-day  of  existence.  Resting  on  the  shady  side 
of  the  road,  spectators  of  scenes  in  which  they  once  took 
a  part,  they  watch  the  pilgrims  toiling  in  the  path  they 
once  so  zealously  trod,  sometimes  a  little  weary  of  their 
journey,  ready  to  lie  down  to  sleep. 


APPENDI X 


LETTER  OF  WILLIAM  COBBETT  TO  GEORGE 

FLOWER. 

BoTLEY,  12  May,  1812. 

My  Dear  Sir:  —  I  have  just  sent  off  to  New  York,  and  have, 

therefore,  nothing  to  send   thither  just  now,  but  am   as  much 

obHged  to  you  as  if  I  had.     You  have  my  best  wishes  with  you. 

Prepared,  as  you  are,  for  a  fine  country  and  happy  people,  the 

reahty  will  surpass    your  expectations.      Mr.   Oldfield    and   my 

nephew  will,  I  am  sure,  be  happy  to  see  you  at  New  York.     Dr. 

Benjamin  Waterhouse  at   Cambridge,   Massachusetts,   will    look 

upon  this  as  a  letter  of  introduction,  and  so  will  Messrs.  William 

Duane,  and  Mr.   Mathew  Carey  of  Philadelphia,  and  also   Mr. 

Niles  of  Baltimore.     I  am  acquainted  with  none  but    literary 

men,  but  though  there  are  in  America,  as  here,  many  who  think 

me  a  very  bad  fellow,  there  are,  I  believe,  very  many  really  good 

friends  of  freedom,  who  would  not  shake  you  by  the  hand  the 

sooner  for  your  having  honored  Avith  your  acquaintance,  your 

sincere  friend  and  most  obedient  servant, 

Wm.  Cobbett. 

To  George  Flower,  Esq.,  of  Marden,  Herts. 

P.  S.  Pray  remember  me  very  kindly  to  your  father  and  all 
our  excellent  friends  in  Hertfordshire.  You  may  again  see  as 
good  people,  but  never  will  see  better. 


LETTER  OF  COUNT  DE  LASTEYRIE  TO  GEORGE 

FLOWER. 

[translation.] 

Paris,  August  24th,  1814. 
I  take  the  opportunity  of  Mr.  Loudon's  return  to  England  to 


362  APPENDIX. 

let  you  hear  from  me  and  to  thank  you  for  the  tokens  of 
souvenir  you  have  given  me.  I  have  also  received  with  pleasure 
the  information  you  have  sent  me  concerning  the  lithographic 
stones,  which  Mr.  Loudon  will  forward  to  me  in  Paris. 

I  have  seen  Mr.  Swaine;  I  have  spoken  to  several  owners  of 
flocks  about  the  wool  he  intends  to  purchase;  I  believe  he  has 
not  yet  closed  many  trades. 

Our  establishment  of  schools  in  France  is  considerably  ham- 
pered by  circumstances,  and  if  our  zeal  is  not  abated,  it  is,  at 
least,  greatly  obstructed.  You  can  not  form  an  idea  of  what  is 
passing  in  France.  The  lessons  of  Bonaparte  are  marvelously 
put  to  profit.  They  do  better  still;  they  surpass  him.  We  are 
in  a  complete  disorganization ;  vexations  are  every  day  on  the 
increase.  In  the  south,  a  violent  and  fearful  reaction  takes  place. 
You  will  have  heard  about  the  massacre  of  Protestants.  The 
system  which  is  being  set  up  is  far  from  the  liberal  ideas  with 
which  Europe  has  been  lulled  for  more  than  a  year.  The 
measures  which  are  being  adopted  prepare  new  convulsions  in 
Europe.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  think  that  order  and  peace  can 
be  secured  by  such  means.  But  time  will  unravel  all  those 
mysteries,  for  the  annihilation  of  the  press  imposes  silence. 
Reasoning  is  not  permitted  against  the  argument  of  bayonets. 
It  is  an  excellent  system,  which  Bonaparte  has  taught  us  long 
ago.  I  would  have  great  many  other  things  to  tell  you,  which 
are  not  known  in  your  country !  1 1  A  thousand  compliments  to 
Mr.  Birkbeck.     I  am  sincerely  devoted  to  you  both. 

C.  P.  DE  Lasteyrie. 


LETTER  OF  COUNT  DE  LASTEYRIE  TO  GEORGE 

FLOWER. 

[translation.] 

Paris,  October  8th,  18 14. 

Sir; — I  take  the  occasion  of  Monsieur  I'Abbe'  Gaultier's  trip  to 

London  to  remember  myself  to  your  souvenir  and  to  recommend 

to  you  an  estimable  author,  who  has  published  a  great  many 

works  upon  the  education  of  children,  and  who  has  devoted  his 


APPENDIX.  363 

life  to  an  art  which  is  not,  as  yet,  enough  known  nor  ai^preciated. 
Mr.  Gaultier,  who  has  resided  in  England  before,  returns  to  that 
country  with  the  intention  of  studying  the  progress  which  the 
system  of  education  may  have  made  during  his  absence.  He  is 
curious  to  know  the  British  and  Foreign  School  Society,  and  no 
one  is  better  qualified  than  yourself  to  help  him  to  carry  out  the 
object  of  his  researches.  This  is  the  reason  why  I  take  the 
liberty  to  direct  him  to  you.  I  desire  very  much  to  see  the 
method  employed  in  England  for  poor  classes  estabUshed  in 
France  also ;  I  shall  do  all  I  can  to  that  end,  and  I  hope  I  shall 
find  men  with  sufficient  zeal  to  cooperate  with  me  toward  so 
noble  a  task.  But  the  present  time  is  not  very  favorable ;  I  hope 
it  may  be  easier  in  a  few  months.  I  also  regret  to  have  but  a 
few  moments  to  devote  to  it.  Other  work  which  I  have  under- 
taken, and  which  I  look  upon  as  of  great  importance  for  the 
cause  of  humanity,  prevents  me  from  giving  more  time  to  it. 

If  anything  of  the  kind  is  done  in  France  I  will  let  you  know; 
it  is  right  for  well-meaning  men  of  all  countries  to  be  in  complete 
accord.  Let  us  leave  to  the  miserable  and  shameful  policy  of 
governments  their  rivalries,  the  wars,  and  so  many  other  crimes 
of  which  they  are  guilty,  under  the  cover  of  order,  religion,  and 
the  interest  of  the  people. 

I  regret  very  much,  sir,  that  your  stay  in  this  country  has  been 
so  short,  and  that  I  have  been  deprived  of  the  sweet  satisfaction 
of  seeing  you  longer,  and  of  manifesting  to  you  the  interest 
which  your  person  and  your  way  of  thinking  have  inspired  me, 
and  also  the  sentiments  of  affection,  with  which  I  have  the  honor 
to  be,  C.  P.  DE  Lasteyrie. 

Please  remember  me  to  your  estimable  friend  Mr.  Birkbeck. 

Mr.  George  Flower. 


LETTER  OF  LAFAYETTE  TO  GEORGE  FLOWER. 

LaGrange,  November  jd,  18 14. 

Dear  Sir: — I  have  been  much  obliged  to  your  kind  inquiries 
on  a  subject  most  interesting  to  me.  The  pleasure  of  a  meeting 
with  Mr.  Whitbread  would  be  one  of  the  highest  I  can  enjoy.  I 
hope  that  it  is  only  postponed. 


364  APrENDIX. 

Your  departure  for  England  has  prevented  my  returning  our 
thanks  to  you  and  Mr.  Birkbeck  for  the  honor  of  your  visit  to 
LaGrange,  where  it  shall  ever  be  affectionately  remembered. 
Be  pleased  to  receive  and  present  to  them  the  best  compliments 
and  wishes  of  the  whole  family.  Our  Irish  friend  has  been  lately 
in  a  dangerous  state  of  health,  but  is  now  recovered.  This  letter 
goes  by  Mr.  Crawford,  who  has  shared  with  us  the  pleasure  to 
receive  you  at  LaGrange.  He  is  bound  for  Scotland,  but  means 
to  visit  London,  and  hopes  he  may  be  able  to  wait  upon  you. 

The  long  expected  rain  has  been  with  us  in  time  to  sow  our 
wheat.  My  pork  is  now  out  of  the  claveari,  and  more  fit  to  be 
seen  than  when  it  was  presented  for  your  inspection. 

Accept,  my  dear  sir,  the  sincere  attachment  with  which  I  have 
the  honor  to  be,  yours,  L.a.fayette. 

G.  Flower,  Marsde/i,  Hertford,  Herts,  England. 


LETTER  OF  THE  ABBE  GAULTIER  TO  GEORGE 
X  FLOWER. 

[translation.] 

London,  Ncnrmber  joth,  18 14. 
Sir: — At  the  moment  I  received  the  letter  you  have  done  me 
the  honor  to  write  to  me,  I  was  about  writing  to  you  to  inform 
you  of  the  happy  success  of  all  your  recommendations,  and  to 
express  my  deepest  thanks  to  you,  as  well  as  to  your  friend  Mr. 
Birkbeck.  Nothing  has  given  me  greater  satisfaction  than  to 
make  the  acquaintance  of  two  men  noted  for  their  virtues  and 
their  intelligent  zeal  —  Mr.  William  Allen  and  Mr.  Fox.  We 
understand  each  other  perfectly  well;  the  latter,  particularly,  has 
electrified  my  soul  with  his  luminous  observations,  and  has 
encouraged  me  to  undertake  in  France  a  work  which  may, 
perhaps,  be  found  useful  in  English  establishments.  I  propose 
to  return  to  this  country  in  the  spring,  but  for  the  present  I  give 
way  to  my  inclination  to  go  home.  I  shall  leave  for  Paris 
Tuesday  or  Wednesday  of  next  week,  and  I  shall  be  infinitely 
flattered  to  deliver  all  the  messages  with  which  you  may  desire 
to  entrust  me.  How  I  rejoice  beforehand  to  be  able  to  inform 
my  friend  Mr.  Lasteyrie,  how  well  I  have  achieved,  through  you. 


,  APPENDIX.  •  365 

the  principal  object  of  my  voyage.  If  I  carry  away  any  regrets, 
it  is  not  to  have  been  able  to  go  and  offer  you  personally,  as  well 
as  your  father,  the  assurance  of  the  distinguished  sentiments, 
with  which  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  your  very  humble  servant, 

L'Abbe'   Gaultier.* 
Mr.  George  Flower,  Marden,  Hertford,  Herts. 


LETTER  OF  COUNT  DE  LASTEYRIE  TO  GEORGE 

FLOWER. 

[translation.] 

Parls,  January  igt/i,  iSij. 

Dear  Sir: — I  take  the  opportunity  offered  me  by  Mrs.  O'Con- 
nor, in  order  to  let  you  hear  from  me.  I  heard  from  you  and 
from  Mr.  Birkbeck  with  much  interest,  and  I  rejoice  to  know 
that  you  are  in  good  health.  Mr.  I'Abbe  Gaultier,  to  whom  I 
had  given  a  note  of  introduction  to  you,  is  very  thankful  for  the 
kindness  he  received  at  the  hands  of  your  father.  I  had  spe- 
cially requested  him  to  examine  carefully  the  Lancaster  Schools ; 
he  was  extremely  well  pleased  with  them.  Before  his  departure, 
I  had  studied  the  best  means  to  adopt  in  order  to  introduce  in 
Paris  that  method  of  popular  education.  I  am,  at  present,  pre- 
paring a  report  on  that  subject  to  the  Societe  Philantropique, 
which  will,  I  hope,  recognize  the  importance  of  it,  and  will  give 
it  a  trial  in  some  of  the  asylums  where  there  are  children;  and 
then  we  will  look  for  the  means  to  propagate  that  method.  I  will 
keep  you  informed  of  what  we  shall  do.  L'Abbe  Gaultier  will 
serve  us  with  zeal  in  this  enterprise. 

There  has  just  arrived  here,  from  London,  a  gentleman  named 
J.  H.  O.  Moran,  who  has  traveled  for  seventeen  years  in  order  to 

*  The  Abbe  Aloisius  Edward  Camille  Gaultier,  a  celebrated  French 
instructor,  who  taught  in  a  new  method,  was  born  in  Piedmont,  of  French 
parents,  in  1745,  and  died  in  181 8,  four  years  after  this  letter  was  written. 
He  settled  in  Paris,  and  devoted  himself  to  his  method  of  instruction, 
applying  it  in  many  instances  gratuitously.  He  went,  from  Paris  to  London, 
where  he  opened  a  school  for  the  gratuitous  instruction  of  the  children  of 
emigrants.  He  published  many  school-books,  and  was  a  man  respected  and 
beloved  of  all  classes. 


366  APPENDIX. 

examine  the  different  methods  of  instruction  in  use  in  Europe. 
He  says  he  has  worked  with  Lancaster.  The  French  ambassador 
at  London  has  given  him  a  letter  of  introduction  for  our  Minister 
of  the  Interior  in  Paris.  He  intends  to  present  to  the  Govern- 
ment a  plan  of  schools  for  the  people.  I  believe  he  proposes 
to  follow  the  Lancaster  method,  with  some  modifications.  He 
appears  to  me  to  have  devoted  himself  entirely  to  that  useful 
occupation,  and  1  think  he  will  be  very  useful  to  us.  But,  as  he 
is  not  known  here,  it  would  be  well,  in  order  to  be  able  to  act  in 
concert  with  him,  to  know  all  about  his  morality,  his  acquire- 
ments, his  means;  whether  his  views  on  education  are  sound;  in 
a  word,  what  he  has  done  in  that  direction  in  England.  I  will 
beg  of  you  to  take  some  information  about  Mr.  Moran,  in  case 
you  are  not  acquainted  with  him  personally,  and  to  give  me  an 
answer  to  my  questions,  so  that  I  may  help  him  or  find  employ- 
ment for  him  in  the  projects  of  popular  education,  which  I  may 
form  with  other  parties. 

Mr.  Gre'goire  has  handed  me  a  few  pamphlets,  which  he  wants 
me  to  transmit  to  you.  I  have  added  a  few  more,  amongst  them 
a  report  on  the  extraction  of  the  gelatine  of  bones,  by  Mr.  Dar- 
cet.  It  is  one  of  the  happiest  applications  for  the  nourishment 
of  man.  They  have  commenced,  in  Paris,  to  make  soups  and 
broths  with  the  gelatine  of  those  bones,  in  several  hospitals. 
They  make  prepared  broths  for  the  navy.  Mr.  Darcet  has  made 
an  arrangement  with  some  Englishmen  who  have  taken  out  a 
patent  for  importation  in  England. 

A  newspaper  bf  Denmark  says,  that  Mr.  Banks  has  started, 
jointly  with  Mr.  Barker,  at  Bath,  a  lithographic  establishment, 
and  that  the  stone  they  use  for  printing  is  found  in  great  quanti- 
ties in  the  neighborhood  of  Bath.  Having,  for  several  years, 
devoted  myself  to  the  starting  of  a  similar  establishment,  I  am 
expecting  to  begin  work  for  the  public  in  two  months  at  the 
latest.  I  wish  you  would  be  kind  enough  to  send  me  a  sample 
of  the  Bath  stone  used  in  England  for  lithographing.  I  have 
been  obliged,  until  now,  to  draw  my  stones  from  Germany,  as  I 
have  not  yet  been  able  to  find  any  in  France.  A  sample  of  the 
Bath  ones  would  enable  me  to  find  out  whether  we  have  the 


APPENDIX.  367 

same  kind  in  France,  and,  in  case  it  were  impossible  to  find  them 
in  France,  I  think  it  would  come  cheaper  for  me  to  get  them 
from  Bath,  via  Bristol  and  Havre,  and  have  them  come  to  Paris 
by  way  of  the  Seine.  I  am  obliged  to  get  those  from  Germany 
by  land,  over  a  distance  of  240  leagues.  I  beg  of  you  to  send 
me,  by  the  first  occasion  you  have,  a  small  sample  of  the  Bath 
stone,  about  four  inches  square  will  be  large  enough.  Mr.  Banks 
will  certainly  let  you  have  some,  if  you  ask  it  for  me.  I  attach 
great  importance  to  the  lithographic  art,  which  will  afford  a  new 
medium  to  facilitate  and  to  propagate  useful  knowledge ;  it  is  in 
its  infancy  yet  and  wants  to  be  improved;  I  devote  a  part  of  my 
time  to  that  object.  Mad.  de  Lasteyrie,  who  is  in  good  health, 
sends  you  her  compliments.  I  reiterate  the  expression  of  my 
most  complete  devotion  to  you. 

C.  P.  DE  Lasteyrie,* 

To  George  Flower.  Rue  de  la  Chaise,  No.  20. 

P.S.— A  thousand  compliments  to  the  interesting  and  estimable 
Mr.  Birkbeck.  Please  tell  him  that  I  thank  him  very  much  for  his 
little  work  on  France,  which  I  have  read  with  much  pleasure.  I 
have  distributed,  to  the  proper  parties,  the  copies  which  he  sent 
me.  I  have  heard  that  Mr.  Sinclair  was  about  to  come  to  Paris. 
I  shall  be  delighted  to  see  him.  Please  remember  me  to  him 
and  also  to  Mr.  Banks. 

LETTER  OF  MADAM  O'CONNOR  TO  GEO.  FLOWER. 
My  Dear  Sir: — I  have  just  received  your  letter  of  the  27th 
of  March,  and  thank  you  for  your  kind  inquiry  of  me.     I  have 

*  Count  de  Lasteyrie,  the  correspondent  of  Mr.  Flower,  a  publicist  and 
philanthropist,  was  born  in  France  in  1759,  and  died  in  1849.  In  politics,  he 
was  an  ardent  defender  of  liberal  principles,  a  supporter  of  the  liberty  of  the 
press  and  religious  freedom.  In  these  respects,  he  was  naturally  in  sympathy 
with  George  Flower.  He  had  traveled  much  in  Europe  and  had  much  stud- 
ied the  art  of  lithography.  He  founded  the  first  lithographic  establishment 
in  Paris.  He  was  the  cousin  of  Count  Adrian  Jules  Lasteyrie,  the  grandson 
of  Lafayette,  who  was  well  known  to  me;  a  republican  member  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies  under  the  Republic,  a  great  friend  of  Mr.  Thiers,  and  belong- 
ing to  the  group  of  the  "  Centre  Left. " 


368  APPENDIX. 

had  a  very  severe  fit  of  illness  since  I  came  in  this  country,  but 
I  am  quite  recovered.  I  have,  as  yet,  done  very  little  in  the 
accomplishment  of  the  business  I  came  upon,  so  that  it  is  im- 
possible for  me  to  say  what  time  I  shall  stop  here. 

I  am  sure  Mr.  Lasteyrie  will  be  very  happy  to  hear  what  you 
mention  respecting  the  stones,  and  peculiarly  of  the  way  of  making 
use  of  all  stones  in  France,  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  art. 
As  I  above  tell  you  that  the  period  of  my  return  to  France  is 
quite  uncertain,  it  would  be  better  for  you  to  write  to  Mr.  Lastey- 
rie about  these  stones,  as  it  might  save  him  a  journey  and  many 
laborious  researches,  both  of  which  I  know  he  has  either  under- 
taken or  is  about  to  undertake.  If  you  do  not  find  any  good 
opportunity  of  sending  him  the  apparatus,  before  I  go  through 
England,  I  shall  be  very  happy  to  take  charge  of  it  for  Mr.  Las- 
teyrie. From  the  habit  of  reading  English  books  on  scientific 
subjects,  I  am  confident  he  will  understand  very  well  what  you 
may  write  to  him  on  the  subject. 

I  dare  say  you  will  be  glad  to  hear  that  I  have  heard  from  my 
family  so  late  as  the  27th  of  March,  and  that  all  were  well. 
Everything  was  quite  quiet,  though  on  the  emperor's  road. 

When  you  see  or  write  Mr.  Birkbeck,  pray  remember  me  to 
him,  and  to  Morris.  With  best  wishes  for  your  and  family's  happi- 
ness, I  remain,  my  dear  sir,  yours  sincerely, 

C.  O'Connor.* 

April  6,  18 IS- 

Mr.  George  Flower, 

Marsden,  Hertford,  Herts.,  England. 

*  Madam  O'Connor  was  the  only  daughter  and  child  of  the  Marquis  de 
Condorcet,  the  illustrious  philosopher,  mathematician,  author,  politician, 
member  of  the  French  Academy,  etc.  Her  mother,  the  Marchioness  de  Con- 
dorcet, was  the  sister  of  General  Grouchy,  afterward  a  marshall  of  France, 
and  so  well  known  in  connection  with  the  battle  of  Waterloo.  The  daughter 
was  born  nine  months  after  the  taking  of  the  Bastile,  July  14,  1789.  Though 
a  nobleman  of  rank  and  distinction,  he  embraced  republican  ideas  at  an 
early  period  in  the  Revolution.  He  was  the  friend  and  associate  of  Dr. 
Franklin,  when  he  represented  the  American  Colonies  in  Paris;  and  during 
the  French  Revolution,  Thomas  Paine  was  a  frequent  visitor  to  the  salons 
of  Madam  de  Condorcet.     A  member  of  the  National  Convention  from  the 


APPENDIX.  369 

LETTER  OF  M.  TESSIER  TO  GEORGE  FLOWER. 

[translation.] 

Paris,  August  2j,  iSij^. 
Sir: — I  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  a  letter  from  you,  through 
a  countryman  of  yours  (Mr.  Swaine),  who  has  come  to  make  pur- 
chases of  fine  merino  wool.  My  flock  is  always  very  beautiful, 
but  less  numerous;  because  the  armies  of  your  nation,  who  have 
camped  near  the  place  where  it  is,  have  eaten  one  hundred  of 
them,  without  my  getting  paid  for  them.  I  must  stand  that  loss 
with  courage;  unfortunately,  it  is  not  the  only  one.     I  am  much 

Department  of  the  Aisne,  he  allied  himself  to  the  Girondins.  Denounced 
to  the  Convention  by  the  infamous  Chabot,  July  8,  1793,  he  was  put  in 
accusation  before  the  Convention,  but  escaped  before  he  was  arrested.  Con- 
cealed by  Madam  Vernet,  who  gave  him  an  asylum  for  eight  months,  and 
where  he  was  a  prey  to  frightful  moral  torments.  The  terrible  punishments 
denounced  by  the  Convention  against  all  persons  harboring  or  concealing  the 
proscribed  deputies  determined  him  no  longer  to  expose  the  brave  and  noble 
woman,  who  had  so  long  sheltered  him,  to  further  peril.  The  poor  woman 
protested,  and  said  she  would  run  every  risk  to  still  further  protect  him;  and 
so  persistent  was  she,  that  he  was  obliged  to  secretly  leave  her  house.  In  the 
disguise  of  a  laborer,  he  wandered  about  several  days  in  the  suburbs  of  Paris, 
and  at  last,  lame  and  footsore,  and  dying  of  hunger,  he  entered  a  cabaret  and 
ordered  an  omelet.  This  led  to  his  arrest.  He  was  taken  to  Bourg  La 
Reine  and  put  in  prison,  where  he  committed  suicide.  His  daughter,  Madam 
O'Connor,  became  the  correspondent  of  George  Flower  in  1815.  In  1807, 
she  had  married  Arthur  O'Connor,  who  was  an  Irish  revolutionist,  and, 
although  a  protestant,  he  always  espoused  the  cause  of  the  oppressed  catho- 
lics in  Ireland.  Accused  of  treason,  he  was  imprisoned  for  five  years  in 
Ireland  and  Scotland.  On  being  released,  he  went  over  to  France,  in  1803, 
and,  in  1809,  was  appointed  a  general  of  division  by  Napoleon,  and  given 
an  important  command.  His  service,  however,  was  not  of  long  duration; 
and,  after  his  retirement,  he  settled  on  his  domain  at  Bignon,  where  he  occu- 
pied himself  with  agricultur.al  pursuits.  He  was  naturalized  as  a  French 
citizen  in  18 18.  History  relates  a  curious  incident  touching  Condorcet  and 
Lafayette,  which  illustrates  the  Revolutionary  epoch.  "  I  am  surprised, "  said 
Condorcet  to  Lafayette,  upon  seeing  him  enter  the  room  in  the  uniform  of  the 
National  Guard  of  Paris,  of  whicli  he  had  so  recently  been  the  commander, 
"  in  seeing  you,  General,  in  that  dress. "  "  Not  at  all, "  replied  Lafayette,  "  / 
zvas  tired  of  obeying,  and  wished  to  command,  and  therefore  laid  down  my  gen- 
eral's commission  and  took  a  musket  on  my  shoulder. " 

24 


370  APPENDIX. 

obliged  to  you  for  your  kind  souvenir,  and  beg  you  to  accept  the 

assurance  of  my  distinguished  consideration. 

Tessier,* 

Member  of  the  French   Institute,  and  Inspector-General  of  the 

Royal  Sheepfolds. 

I  have  traded  with  your  countryman;  I  have  sold  him  my 
wool.  If  he  likes  it,  I  will  sell  him  more  another  year,  provided 
he  is  reasonable  as  to  the  price. 

To  Mr.  George  Flower. 


LETTER  OF  LAFAYETTE  TO  GEORGE  FLOWER. 

Paris,  August  2S,  181  j. 

What  will  you  have  thought  of  me,  my  dear  sir,  when  Mr, 
Swain  has  returned  home  without  my  having  paid  the  attention 
due  to  him,  and  to  your  much  valued  recommendation.  The 
enclosed  apology  will,  I  hope,  clear  my  conduct  in  your  and  his 
estimation.  I  long  to  hear  you  both  have  received  it,  and  after 
having  waited  a  few  days  for  a  private  opportunity,  I  forwarded  it 
to  the  care  of  a  French  banker,  who  will  send  it  by  you. 

The  unexpected  loss  of  your  illustrious  countryman,  Mr. 
Whitbread,  has  deeply  affected  me — besides  the  general  fraternity 
between  men  engaged  in  the  cause  of  freedom,  and  my  particular 
obligations  to  this  great  patriot,  I  had  for  him  an  admiration,  I 
did  put  in  him  hopes  which  make  me  feel  on  the  melanchol}' 
event  every  sentiment  that  respect  and  affection  can  produce. 

You  have,  I  dare  say,  taken  an  interest  in  the  political  catastro- 
phe of  France  which  attended  the  proceedings  of  our  short-lived 

*  Alexander  Henri  Tessier  was  born  at  Augerville  in  France,  in  1741,  and 
died  in  Paris,  in  1837.  Studying  the  natural  sciences  and  medicine  at  the 
college  of  Montaiga,  at  Paris,  he  became  a  member  of  the  medical  society  in 
1776.  Becoming  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  in  1783,  he  was 
named  sometime  afterward  director  of  the  "  Establishment  Rural,  "at  Ram- 
bouillet,  and  he  was  then  placed  in  charge  of  a  flock  of  merinos,  which  had 
been  sent  to  Louis  XVI,  from  Spain.  It  was  this,  probably,  which  led  him 
to  become  a  producer  of  wool.  Before  his  death,  he  reached  the  higliest 
honor  to  be  obtained  by  a  Frenchman  in  private  life  —  a  member  of  the 
French  Institute. 


APPENDIX.  371 

House  of  Representatives,  that  had  in  a  fortnight's  time  to 
defend  its  existence  from  two  dynasties,  the  latest  of  which  was 
supported  by  the  armed  forces  of  Europe.  A  new  and  very 
different  assembly  is  now  convened,  of  which  I  am  a  member. 
I  beg  you  to  present  my  best  compliments  to  Monsieur  Birkbeck. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  sir,  your  very  sincere  friend, 

Lafayette. 

Monsieur  George  Flower,  Marsden,  near  Hertford,  England. 


LETTER  OF  LAFAYETTE  TO  GEORGE  FLOWER. 

LaGrange,  April  i6tli,  1816. 

My  Dear  Sir: — Your  letter,  directed  Rue  d'Anjou,  has  not  yet 
reached  me.  The  one  to  LaGrange  is  just  received.  I  hasten 
to  answer  it.  Sure  as  I  am  that  you  shall  be  highly  pleased  with 
the  United  States,  and  that  the  approbation  will  be  reciprocal,  I 
can  not  but  approve  your  intended  plan.  Yet  I  much  lament 
not  to  have  the  pleasure  once  more  to  welcome  you  at  LaGrange 
before  your  leaving  Europe.  You  would  find  me  in  a  state  of 
retirement  still  more  rigid  than  when  I  was  gratified  with  your 
and  Mr.  Birkbeck's  visit,  but  hitherto  determined  to  remain  upon 
this  ground.  Should  I  depart  from  it,  America  would,  of  course,, 
be  the  direction  for  me.  Happy,  indeed,  I  would  be  to  meet 
you  on  that  blessed  land. 

Inclosed  is  my  letter  to  Mr.  Jefferson.  I  would  have  added  a 
few  more  to  my  friends  at  Washington  and  other  parts  of  the 
United  States,  had  I  not  reflected  that  I  must  first  insure  the  safe 
arrival  of  the  one  you  are  now  expecting. 

The  post  communication  not  being  so  regular  as  might  be 
wished,  I  shall  only  send  these  lines,  but  if  your  departure  was 
deferred,  will  be  at  your  disposition  for  any  thing  you  may  desire. 
I  can  not  be  more  agreeably  gratified  by  my  friends  than  in  the 
attention  they  will  pay,  the  advice  and  civilities  they  may  offer  to 
you,  my  dear  sir.  You  will  find  a  great  number  of  French 
citizens  have  arrived  in  the  United  States;  some  by  proscription, 
many  more  from  choice.  Upon  those  subjects  I  refrain  from 
expatiating,  as  my  first  object  is  to  convey  the  introductory  lines 
to  Monticello,  and  to  offer  the  most  affectionate  wishes  for  your 
happy  voyage. 


3/2  APPENDIX. 

My  family  are  much  obliged  to  your  kind  remembrance,  and 
beg  their  best  regards  be  presented  to  you.  Be  pleased  to 
remember  us  to  our  friend  Monsieur  Birkbeck.  Let  me  know 
when  this  answer  has  reached  you,  and  believe  me,  with  the  most 
sincere  attachment,  yours,  Lafayette. 

Our  friends  in  \'ignon  are  well.  I  shall  let  them  know  your 
kind  inquiries  about  them,  and  forward  your  compliments. 

Monsieur  George  Flower,  Marsden,  near  Hertford,  Atigleten-e. 


LETTER  OF  ROBERT  OWEN  TO  REV.  MR.  RAPP. 

New  Lanark,  4  August,  1820. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Rapp. 

Most  worthy  Sir: — Having  heard  much  of  your  Society,  and 
feeUng  a  peculiar  interest  respecting  it,  I  am  induced  to  open  a 
correspondence  with  you,  in  the  expectation  of  procuring  a 
correct  account  of  your  establishment. 

My  first  attention  was  called  to  it  by  some  travels  published  in 
America  by  a  Mr.  Mellish,  who  in  181 1  visited  the  original 
settlement  near  to  Pittsburgh,  and  who  gave  many  details  which, 
to  me,  appeared  to  promise  many  future  advantages.  You  have 
since  had  an  opportunity  of  creating  a  second  settlement,  under 
the  full  benefit  of  the  experience  derived  from  the  first,  and  the 
particulars  of  the  result  of  these  two  experiments  would  be  of 
real  value  to  me,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  positive  inconveniences 
which  arise  from  changes  to  society  from  a  state  of  private  to 
public  property,  under  the  peculiar  circumstances  by  which  your 
colonies  have  been  surrounded. 

If  you  can  furnish  me  with  any  authentic,  printed  or  manu- 
script, statement  of  the  rise,  progress,  and  present  state  of 
Harmony,  you  would  confer  upon  me  a  very  particular  obligation. 

The  gentleman  who  conveys  this  letter  will  perhaps  have  the 
goodness  to  take  charge  of  them  and  bring  them  to  England. 
Should  this  be  inconvenient  to  him,  any  parcel  addressed  for  me 
to  New  Lanark,  North  Britain,  and  forwarded  to  Mr.  Quincy 
Adams,  the  secretary  of  state  for  the  American  home  depart- 
ment, would,  I  have  no  doubt,  come  safe. 

'I'here  is  a  colony  here  of  about  2400  persons,  whom   I  have 


APPENDIX.  373 

already  placed  under  new  circumstances,  preparatory  to  a  still 
more  improved  arrangement,  from  which  incalculable  advantages 
to  all  classes  may  be  expected.  I  am  now  in  the  midst  of 
preparing  a  further  development  of  the  system  I  have  in  view, 
and  it  will  give  me  pleasure  to  send  you  a  copy  of  it,  the  earliest 
opportunity  after  it  shall  be  ready.  In  the  mean  time  I  send  you 
copies  of  such  works  as  I  have  already  published,  which  I 
request  you  to  accept.     I  am,  sir,  your  most  obedient 

Robert  Owen. 


LETTER  OF  WILLIAM  OWEN  TO  GEORGE    FLOWER. 

My  Dear  Sir: — I  am  happy  to  say  that  my  father  arrived  here 
safe  and  well  this  morning  from  Mount  Vernon,  where  he  arrived 
late  last  night  per  steamer  JVm.  Fe?in,  which  has  gone  on  with  a 
load  to  Nashville.  My  father  being  anxious  to  lose  as  litde  time 
as  possible,  has  determined,  as  you  will  perceive  by  the  enclosed 
notice,  to  hold  a  meeting  this  day  week.  Will  you  give  it  all  the 
publicity  you  conveniently  can.  Three  gentlemen,  who  are,  I 
believe,  forming  an  establishment  at  Cincinnati,  arrived  with  him, 
and  we  expect  several  here  with  whom  he  settled  while  on  his 
tour.  I  have  given  the  bearer  a  note  for  Mr.  Birkbeck,  enclosing 
a  notice  of  the  proposed  meeting;  as  I  understand  he  has  never 
been  at  Wanborough,  I  will  trouble  you  to  forward  the  note 
thither,  if  convenient,  with  the  least  possible  delay. 

I  hope  Mrs.  G.  F.  is  quite  well;  also  your  father,  and  our 
other  friends.     My  father  begs  to  be  remembered  to  you  all. 

In  haste,  truly  yours,  Wm.  Owen. 

Harmony,  Wednesday. 

LETTER  OF  D.  MACDONALD. 

New  Harmony,  12th  May,  1824. 
My  Dear  Sir: — Several  of  your  neighbors  came  here  to  join 
the  Society  during  Mr.  Owen's  absence,  but  the  committee 
determined  not  to  receive  any  more  persons  for  a  {q\s  days,  that 
they  might  have  time  to  arrange  such  as  had  already  joined. 
We,  however,  promised  to  let  them  know  after  Mr.  Owen's 
return,  whether  they  were  accepted.     Mr.   Owen   returned   last 


374  APPENDIX. 

evening,  and  now  takes  the  opportunity  of  Dr.  Spring,  to  request 
you  will,  if  convenient,  and  if  you  think  the  following  persons,  or 
any  of  them,  would  be  good  and  useful  members,  to  inform  them 
that  they  may  join: 

Mrs.  Olive  Johnson. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cradock. 

Capt.  Huston. 

Mr.  Philip  B.  Miles  (is  his  lameness  not  objectionable). 

Mr.  Bonhley. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Warrington  (after  four  months  of  sober  life). 

Mr.  William  Wilkinson,  bricklayer. 

As  we  have  a  number  of  families  offering  their  services,  and 
many  not  very  effective,  it  is  not  advisable  to  take  any  of  the 
foregoing,  unless  you  consider  them  likely  to  be  immediately 
useful  and  valuable  members.  Of  course,  you  will  consider  this 
letter  private,  and  such  as  you  can  not  recommend  I  trust  you 
will  inform,  that  at  present  we  have  so  many  applicants  that  we 
are  obliged  to  postpone  their  reception  till  a  future  opportunity. 

I  hope  Mrs.  Gregory,  your  children,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Flower,  and 
the  rest  of  your  family  are  well.  Pray  give  my  best  respects  to 
them,  and  believe  me,  sincerely  yours,  D.  Macdonald.* 

*  The  captivating  theories  of  Mr.  Robert  Owen  attracted  many  distin- 
guished people,  not  only  from  Europe,  but  all  parts  of  the  United  States, 
to  New  Harmony.  Among  these  was  the  Scotchman,  D.  Macdonald,  who, 
on  his  return  to  his  own  country,  became  Lord  of  the  Isles  and  Earl  of  Skye. 


INDEX    OF   SUBJECTS. 


Abington,  Virginia,    .......         43 

Academy  of  Sciences,  French,       .....  370 

Acclimation,  .......       336 

Achilles,  ship,         .......  95 

African  Colonization,  .  .  .  .  .  15,  267 

Africans,  .....       219,  220,  221,  259,  272 

Alabama,        ........        185 

Albemarle  County,  Virginia,  .....  43 

Albion,  9,  13,  15,  32,  99,  loi,  116,  118,  127,    128,   129,  130,  131,  133,  134, 

I3S>  136,  139,  143,  145.  147,  148,  149.  153,  155.  156,  157,  158,  159. 
160,  161,  162,  169,  170,  171,  172,  173,  184,  212,  246,  264,  277,  278, 
282,  283,  289,  290,  293,  307,  316,  317,  318,  325,  326,  329,  330,  334, 

339,  340- 
Court-house  at,    .  .  .  .  .  .  133.  Hi 

Peculiarities  of,  .....  .       329-30 

in  1812  and  i860,  .....  329-3° 

Vote  on  Convention,  .....  246 

Alleghanies,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .        90,  91,  103 

Alton,        ........  206 

America,         ...  25,  30,  48,  66,  118,  163,  257,  259,  361 

America,  ship,        .  .  .  .  .  •  •  26 

Atlantic  Ocean,  .....  84,  88,  104,  120 

Augersville,  .  .  .  .  .  .  •  37° 

Australia,        ......  27,48,118,358 

Ave  Maria,  ship,  .  .  .  .  .  -91,  I02 

Avignon,         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  23,  43 

B. 

Backwoodsmen  leave  the  country,  .  .  .  .  184 

Ball- Hill  Prairie,         .  .  .  .  .  .246 

Baltimore,  .....  155,  271,  303,  361 

Bamstead,       ........        I47 

Baptist  services,    .......  170-I 

Barrens  of  Ohio,         .......         34 

Bastile,      ........  368 


376 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 


Batavia,  Illinois, 

Bath,  England, 

Bears, 

Beaver, 

Bignon, 

Birk's  Prairie, 

Birmingham,  England, 


PAGE, 

202 

•      366,  367 

■  30S 

59,  357,  35S 

■  369 
65,  66,  67,  155 

129 


Birkbeck,  Morris,  Jr.  (see  Personal  Index),  agrees  to  enter  land,  73^4 

Anti- Slavery  services  (see  Letters  on  Slavery),      .  .  .      13-4 

appointed  Secretary-of- State"  of  Illinois,  but  is  not  confirmed,    25,  247-S 
burial-place  of,     .  .  .  .  .  .  .        35S 

death  of,        .  .  .  .  .  .  115,  255-6 

descendants  of,     .  .  .  .  .  .  .       358 

early  life  of,  .  .  .'  .  .  .  19-20 

education  and  mental  taste,  .  .  .  -19,  20,  23,  25 

embarks  for  America,  .....  26 

erects  temporary  buildings  for  settlers,      ....        100 

family,  .......  47^S 

farm  at  Wanborough,  England,    .  .  .  .  .20 

n  II  II         given  up,        .  .  .  97-9 

M  II  11         profits  of,  .  .  .     97-9 

father,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  19 

at  fifty,    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .21 

founds  Wanborough,  Illinois,  .  .  .  .116,  130 

Illinois'  indebtedness  to,  .  .  ,  .  .12 

letter  to  Mr.  Pope  concerning  extension  of  time  of  payment  on  lands,  82-3 
letters  on  Slavery,  .....  209-45 

lives  in  Princeton,  Indiana,     .  .  .  .  -56,  72,  84 

man  of  great  ability,         ......  12 

meets  Mr.  Flower  at  Richmond,         ....  47 

mentioned  in  letters  addressed  to  George  Flower,  362,  363,  364,  365,  367, 

368,  371,  372,  373- 

non-residents,  unwilling  to  invest  for. 

Pope's,  Gov.,  reply  to  a  letter  from,   . 

portrait  of  ....  . 

proposes  to  Miss  Andrews,    .... 

receives  funds  from  England, 

receives  visit  from  Edward  Coles, 

publishes  "  Notes  of  a  Journey  in  America," 

II        "  Notes  of  a  Journey  through  France, " 

11        with  George  Flower,  pamphlet  to  emigrants, 

II        "Supplementaiy  letter  to  British  emigrants," 

religious  sentiments,         .... 

religious  training,        ..... 


350 

81-2 

16 

55-6 

97 

24 

92-3 

24 

194 

178 

5,  26,  177-9 

19,  21 


91, 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS. 

Birkbeck,  Morris,  Jr.,  remains  in  America,     . 
searches  for  Illinois  prairies  with  Mr.  Flower, 
subscription  toward  founding  the  English  Settlement, 
temperate  habits,       ..... 
variance  with  Mr.  Flower,  .... 

visits  France  with  Mr.  Flower, 
widower,  a  .....  . 

Blacks,  free,  outrages  upon  in  Illinois,      .  .  249-50, 

11     no  educational  advantages  for  in  Illinois, 
It     outrages  upon  in  New  Orleans, 

Black  laws  of  Illinois,  ..... 

Black  soldiers  in  War  of  181 2, 

Blooded  stock,  .  .  .  .       100,  160,  2  7  8, 

Bois-brule, 

Boltenhouse  Prairie,  .  .  .  .63,  74,  75,  99. 

Bond  County, 

Bonpas  Creek, 

Boone  County, 

Boston, 

Botanical  Gardens  at  Avignon, 

Botley,  England, 

Bourg  La  Reine, 

Brick-kiln, 

Bristol,  England,  .  .  .  •   96,  99 

British  and  Foreign  School  Society,     . 
Government  discourages  emigration, 
prejudices  against  the,       .... 

Buckinghamshire,  .... 

Buffalo,  the,  ...... 

Busro,  Ind.,  Shaker  Settlement  at, 

Butter,  five  cents  a  pound,       .... 


II 


126, 


102, 


177 

PAGE. 

•  73-4 

60 

99 
21-2 

109,  1 12-5 

23-4 

21 

260-5,  268-9 

•  340 
269 

13 

266 

305.  317,  318 

59 

124,  125,  157 

198 

133,  266,  334 

II,  170 

320 

23-4 

361 

369 

•  133 
147,  190.  367 

•  363 
195 

.     68-9 

316 

59,  357,  358 

57-8 
298 


California, 

Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 

Cambridgeshire,  England, 

Campbellite's  services. 

Camp-meeting,     . 

Canada, 

Canadian  French, 

Cane  in  its  natural  state. 

Cape  of  Good  Hope, 

Carlyle,  town  of, 

Carmi,  .  108-9,  ii9.  Hi;  M^ 


165,  170,  187 

361 
lOI 

.   1 7 1-2 

173-7 
10,  II,  27,  320 

73 

62 

27 

.       163 

3,  253,  260,  265,  290,  292,  293 


378  INDEX    OF   SUBJECTS. 

PAGE. 

Carolina,  .  .  .  .  .  .  185,  189,  230 

Carroll  County,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .170 

Castor-oil,  manufacture  of,  .  .  .  .  .  136 

Cattinet,  the  French  Settlement,         ....  58  9,  no 

Chambersburgh,  .....         90-1,  103,  104 

Champaign  County,    .  .  .  .  .  .  .11 

Channel,  the         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  91,  92 

Isles,        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .94 

Charleston,  S.  C,  .  .  .  .  .  .  189 

Chicago,         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .11 

fire,  .  .  .  .  .  .  7,  9,  16,  77 

Historical  Society,  .  .  .  7,  9,  14,  15,  16,  76-7,  80 

Chickasaw  nation,  ......  40 

Chillicothe,     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  •  34>  35 

Choctaw  nation,  ......  40 

Cincinnati,  34,  35,  36,  50,  51,  102,  loS,  109,  153,  157,  158,  339,  373 

Clark  County,  .  .  .  .  .  .  11,  19S 

Clay  County,        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  11 

Clergymen  of  English  Church,  .....   325-8 

Clock-peddler,      .......  328 

Cochocton,     ........         34 

Coffee  Island,       .......  73 

Coles  County,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .11 

Coles,  Edward  (see  Personal  Index),  appoints  Mr.  Birkbeck  secretary- 

of-state,         .  .  .  .  25,  247 

emancipates  his  slaves,  its  consequences,         .  .  .         249-50 

father  and  brothers,  ......         43 

governor  of  Illinois,  .....        25,  247 

letter  to  Mr.  Birkbeck,     ......        248 

minister  to  Russia,     ......  24 

pardons  a  murderer,  .....  138-40 

signs  free  papers  for  black  emigrants,  .  .  .  267 

"Sketch  of  Edward  Coles,"  .....       205 

Columbia,  ship,     .  .  .  .  .  .  147 

Communities  retain  characteristics  of  founders,  .  .  .      179 

Congress,  ...  58,  76,  77,  80,  81,  82,  163,  169,  186 

land,  price  of,      .  .  .  .  .  .  .       290 

Cook  County,       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  11,  12 

Connecticut,  .......        184 

Cornwall.  England,  ....  73.  94.  I53.  163,  165 

Cotton  growing,  .  .  .  .  .  .  -333 

Court,  first,  at  Albion,      ......  141 

Court-house  and  jail,  ......        133 

Courts  and  circuit-court  riding,      .....  133 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS.  3/9 


PAGE. 


Crawford  County,       ......      11,187,198 

Crops,  Illinois,     .....••  3^4 

Cumberland  County,  .  .  .  •  •  .11 

Cutthroats  and  robbers,     ......  40-2 

D. 

Dead  Man's  Shoal,     .  .  .  ■  •  .  .       106 

Deer,        .  .  .  .  •  ■  •  •        59,  II9 

DeKalb  County,  .  .  .  •  •  •  .11 

Delaware,  .......      208,  217 

Denmark,       ....•■••       3^6 

Derbyshire,  England,        ......       I55,  ^5^ 

Devonshire,  England,  .  .  -  •  •    163,  165,  166 

DeWitt  County,  .  .  •  •  •  •  i ' 

Dick's  River,  ...••••         37 

Discovers  and  founders  of  settlements,  fate  of,       .  .  .  273  4 

Ditching,  advantages  of  .  .  •  •  ■  •       359 

Du  Page  County,  .  .  .  •  •  •  ^i 

E. 

Eastern  cities,  ......      152,168,277 

man,  settlers,  .....  187-8,  260 

states,  .  .  .  .  ■  •      53,  1^4.  33^ 

trip,  1818,  time  and  expense  of  .  .  ■  •  3°2-3 

Edgar  County,  .  .  .  •  .  •  .11 

Edgeworth  Institute,         .  .  .  .  •  •  '35 

Edwards  County,        9,  10,  12,  114,  138,  159,  169,  19S,  202,  206,  331,  345-8 
agricultural  fairs,        ......  340^8 

counties  formed  out  of,     .  .  .  •  •  .10 

county-seat  moved  to  Albion,  .  .  •  • 


educational  statistics,  1858, 

representative, 

state  of  county  affairs, 
Edwardsville,        .  .  . 

Effingham  County, 
Egyptian  bondage, 
Electra,  ship, 

Elk,  .... 

Emerald  Isle,     . 
Emigrants,  first  parties,     . 
Emigration,  blessings  of, 
England,  25,  48,  79,  83,  85,  92,  93,  94,  loi,  113,  119,  146,  149,   'S^,  I57, 
160,  165,  190,  195,  212,  257,  259,  274,  279,  316,  324,  325,  356,  358, 

361,  363,  364,  368. 
English,  ......        .13,69,188-9,265 


138 

•  345-6 
159 

•  331 
.  206,  247,  248,  249 

II 

79 

.       150 

59,  293,  357-8 

94 

95  7,  99-101 

79 


38o 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 


PAGE. 

English  Channel,             ..... 

. 

91,    92 

farmers,                 ...... 

77 

farm-laborers,  success  of        . 

289--90,  314 

Settlement  in  Edwards  County,  attacks  upon 

I 

58,  191-6 

Mr.  Birkbeck's  subscription  to    . 

99 

blooded  stock  in       .              .              .       loo,  i6o,  278, 

305, 

317.  318 

books  referring  to            ...              . 

18-9,  328 

cotton  raised  in         . 

■>  ■>  1 

countj'-fairs  in    . 

346-8 

court  and  court-house  in       . 

138,   141 

discomforts  of  settlers  in              .              .          100,  iio- 

I,  121,  124-5 

distance  between  cabins  in     . 

.       293 

emigration  recommences  to          . 

287-9 

extent  of      . 

•       354 

farming  profits  in             ...              . 

304,  313 

founding       ...... 

ij) 

116,  130 

off  highways  of  travel,   .... 

191 

land  in,  gradually  taken  up, 

•       350 

lawyers  who  visited         .... 

290-3 

manuscript  history  of              ...               . 

9 

marriage  certificates,  early 

312 

mechanics,  early       ..... 

129 

murders  in           ....              . 

138 

-9,  277-8 

outrages  upon  blacks  in         . 

260 

-I,  263-4 

peach  raising  in                .... 

305 

peculiarities  of           ....               . 

•       330 

physicians  in,  early          .... 

332 

pork  raised  in             ....               . 

•       317 

public  library  in                .... 

328 

religious  teachers  in,  early     .... 

167-79 

schools  and  school-houses  in        . 

337-43 

settlers,  characteristics  of      . 

.       161 

ti        classes  of            ...              . 

289,  314 

II        earliest         ....              95 

,  108,  128-38 

early      ....     142-66,  184 

-90, 

316,  318 

•  1        places  of  nativity,     .            94,  103,  166,  167,  1 

89. ( 

?i,  316-7 

11        ports  at  which  they  arrived, 

. 

1 89 

site  determined  upon,            .... 

•     73-4 

temperate  habits  of  settlers  in     . 

. 

-1  ^  r 

tradesmen,  early        ..... 

•  135-7 

visited  by  tourists,            .              .              .              . 

318.28 

vote  in,  upon  convention  question,     . 

246 

wolves  and  panthers  in   . 

. 

308.9 

social  life,            ...... 

22 

INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS.  38  I 

PAGE. 

English  unable  to  picture  to  themselves  Illinois  life,  truly  .  93 

Enniscorthy,  .......         43 

Establishment,  rural         .  .  .  .  .  .  371 

Episcopal  services,      .  .  .  .  .  .  169.70,  17 1.2 

Essex,  England,  ......  48 

Europe,  .  .  .  •  •  •  .112,  163,  361 

Evansville,  Indiana,  .....  loi,  145,   163,  186 


Falls  of  the  Big  Wabash,        .... 

Far  West,  ...... 

Farming  in  America,  profits  of  .  .  . 

in  England,  profits  of  ...  . 

Fayette  County,  ..... 

Fleet  prison,        ...... 

Flower,  George  (see  Inde.x  of  Persons),  African  colonization  scheme,  14,  265.70 

age  in  181 7, 

ancestors,  .  .  ... 

and  Miss  Eliza  Andrews,  afterward  Mrs.  Flower, 

at  seventy-four,    ..... 

attends  inauguration  of  President  Monroe, 

builds  cabins  for  settlers, 

burial  place  of  ....  ■ 

Chicago  Tribune,  extract  from 

correspondents  of  (see  letters) 

crosses  the  Wabash,  .  ... 

death  of         . 

death  of  his  brother  William, 

descends  Ohio  River  in  an  "Ark,"      . 

determines  with  Mr.  Birkbeck  upon  place  for  settlement, 

describes  camp-meetings,        .... 

drives  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburgh  in  carriage, 

embarks  for  America,  .... 

M  II    England,       .... 

established  at  Princeton,  Indiana, 

evening  of  his  life,  .... 

father  of  (see  Flower, ^Richard) 

finds  Capt.  Birk's  at  last, 

finds  Mrs.  Flower  a  noble  woman, 

first  experiences  in  new  home, 

foray  with  pro-slavery  mob,   .... 

gets  to  Big- Prairie,  .  .  .  ■ 

goes  half-a-mile  for  water,      .... 

hears  from  Mr.  Birkbeck, 


II 

59 

•       313 

97-9 

II,  198 

274 

e,  14,  265.70 

48 

•   315-6 

48 

■       359 

45 

124 

10 

12 

9.  14 

•         63 

9.10,  14.5 

131 

106-8 

•     73-4 

173-7 

•       103 

.    30,  100. I 

91 

56 

14.  359-60 

26 

.     66-7 

122-3 

no,    III,    122 

264 

•       64-5 

no 

109 

l82 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 


Flower,  (leorge,  horseback  rides  into  interior  of  Illinois, 

II         trip  eastward,     ,   .. 
hospitality  of  .. 

hospitality  of  Mrs.  Gen.  Harrison  to 
husbandry  upon  improved  scale,  . . 

Illinois,  indebtedness  of,  to  services  in  slavery  struj^gle  of 
joined  by  Mr.  Fordham, 
joins  Mr.  Birkbeck  at  Richmond,  Va., 
journeying  westward,  first  time,  with  party, 
invited  to  visit  Monticello,    .. 
lays  out  the  town  of  Albion, 
leaves  Mrs.  Flower  at  Chambersburgh, 
leaves  Settlement  in  1849, 
legal  difficulties  with  neighbors, 
letter  from  William  Cobbett  to     . . 

M         Count  de  Lasteyrie, 

M         Abbe  Gaultier  to 

M         Gen.  Lafayette  to 

II         D.  Macdonald  to 

11         Madam  O'Connor  to 

II         William  Owen  to 

11         A.  H.  Tessier  to 
life  imperilled, 

log-cabin  and  first  meals  of  -. 
lost  in  the  rain, 
lost  on  his  way  to  Pittsburgh, 
makes  a  comfortable  house  for  father, 
makes  a  will, 
man  of  great  ability,  a., 
marries  Miss  Andrews, 

mediates  between  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hanks,     .. 
meets,  for  the  first  time,  Edward  Coles, 

n       Mrs.  Flov/er  with  babe  at  Chambersburgh,   .. 
II       Gen.  Jackson, 
II       Gen.  Ripley, 
II        President  Madison, 
mother  of 

motives  for  immigration, 
moves  to  Mount  Vernon,  Indiana, 
murder  of  his  son  Richard,    _. 
non-residents,  unwilling  to  invest  for 
outrages  upon,  on  account  of  friendship  toward  blacks 
passes  through  Cattinet, 
pays  just  wages. 


297.8,  301 
86.91 

..       51 

13 

1823,   7,  12,  13 

109 

--       47 

49-74 


125.9 

-.       91 

125.9,  358.9 

--     275 
361 

--    361,  362,  365 

364 

363,  370-1 

--     367 

'>  '7  -> 
3/3 

--     370 

35.  37,  40-2,  91-2,  262 

no. I 

29S 

--       33 


-  84 
12 

-  56 
116 

-  45 
104 

-  39 
39 

-  45 
315 

-  13 
123 

277-8 

350 
260.5 

58-9 

-  i6j 


INDEX   OF    SUBJECTS.  383 

PAGE. 

Flower,  George,  pecuniary  difficulties  of           ..  ..              ..  14,358.9 

portrait  of                 --              --              ..              ..  ..              ..16 

president  of  railway,       ..             ..             ..  ..             ..             335 

provisions  with  difficulty  obtained  by  . .              ..  ..              ..123 

published,  with  Mr.  Birkbeck,  a  pamphlet  "To  Emigrants,"  194 

publishes  "Errors  of  Emigrants, "        ..              ..  ..              ..      181 

II         letter  in  Lcnaell  Cot'trier,                ..  ..              ..              187 

puts  Mr.  Birkbeck's  "Notes  upon  a  Journey  to  America"  in  hands 

of  publishers,           ..              ..              ..  ..              ..         91,  93 

reaches  Long-Prairie,              ..             ..             ..  ..             ..73 

resides  at  Princeton,  Indiana,        ..             ..  ..             ..               84 

returns,  for  a  time,  to  England,            ..             ..  ..             ..   73.4 

returns  to  Princeton,       ..             ..             ..  ..             -.               jz 

rides  to  Lexington,                 ..             ..             ..  ..             ..     131 

searches  for  the  prairies,  with  Mr.  Birkbeck,  . .              . .                60 

sees  Indians,             ..              ..              ..              ..  ..              ..52 

sends  colony  to  Hayti,   ..              ..              ..  ..              ..        265.70 

sickness  of                ..              -.              ..              ..  ..              122,262 

and  Mr.  Sloo,                  ..              ..              ..  ..              ..          50,51 

social  life  in  Illinois  of           ..              ..             ..  .-                 305-7 

II            n     Philadelphia  of          ..              ..  ..              -.                32 

spends  a  day  at  Busro,           ..             ..             _.  ..             ..  5^-^ 

stops  at  Shawneetown,                   ..              ..  ..              ..              108 

M      Vincennes,                  ..              ..              ..  ..              --   52-3 

suffers  from  sea-sickness,                ..             ..  ..             ..               92 

takes  Mrs.  Flower  east  with  him,        ..              ..  ..             ..85 

temperate  habits  of        ..              ..              ..  ..              ..          275.6 

thought  a  visionary,                ..              ..              ..  ..              ..     303 

tribute  to  memory  of,  by  Rev.  William  Barry,  ..             ..            13.5 

11                   II      by  Chicago  Historical  Society,      ..  ..15.6 

variance  with  Mr.  Birkbeck,  at,  cause,       ..  ..                  109,   112.5 

visits  Cincinnati,      ..              ..              ..              .-  .-              ..35 

11     Coles  family,          ..              --              ..  --             --               43 

II     Thomas  Jefferson  at  Monticello,                  ..  ..              --   43-4 

1,                   M                at  Poplar  Forest,   ..  ..             ..               43 

M     France  with  Mr.  Birkbeck,         ..              ..  ..              ..   23.4 

11     Neave  family,         ..              ..              ..  --              --                3^ 

11     New  Harmony,              ..              ..              .-  --              --   60.2 

M     Dr.  Priestly,          ..              ..              ..  -.              ..                32 

M     Gov.  Shelby,                  ..              ..              .-  --              ..37 

II     mammoth  cave,     ..              ..              ..  --              --            3^-9 

visited  by  distinguished  travelers,         ..              ..  .-                318.26 

writes  history  of  the  English  Settlement  in  Edwards  County,  9,  14 

writes  to  Jefferson  concerning  land-grant,  gets  reply,  ..         76.80 


384  INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS. 


PAGE. 


Flower,  Mrs.  George  (see  Personal  Index)  adventure  with  panther,         308.9 
accompanies  Mr.  Flower  on  journeys  in  Illinois,  ..         297.8,  301 

aids  in  rescuing  child  from  well,  ..  ..  ..  ..  153 

babe  born  to,  at  Chambersburgh,         ..  ..  ..  ..     104 

burial-place  of  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ;o 

characteristics  of..  ..  ..  ..  ..  122. 3 

death  of  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  9.10 

decides  at  first  to  remain  at  Princeton,  . .  . .  . .       84 

disliked  by  a  woman  because  English  born,  . .  . .  69 

evening  of  life  of    ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  359.60 

goes  east  with  husband,  ..  ..  ..  ..         85.91 

life  imperilled,         ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..90 

maiden  name  of  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  48 

mentioned  in  letters  addressed  to  husband,  ..  ..  373)374 

nurses  sick,       ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  122 

portrait  of  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..16 

resides  at  Chambersburgh  during  husband's  visit  to  England,  90.1 

refuses  Morris  Birkbeck.        ..  ..  ..  ..  ..55 

visits  Busro,     -.  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  57 

Flower,  Richard  (see  Personal  Index),        ..  ..  ..  ..26 

an  anti-slavery  man,        ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  25 

builds  tavern  and  other  buildings  at  Albion,  ..  ..  134-5 

characteristics  of  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..         314-5 

death  of    ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..     314 

hospitality  at  Park  House  of         ..  ..  ..  ..  104 

house  attacked  by  pro-slavery  mob,     . .  . .  . .  . .     263 

Illinois  indebtedness  to  ..  ..  ..  ..  12 

interest  in  Albion,  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..     183 

lives  at  Lexington,  Kentucky,       ..  ..  ..  ..     102,  131 

Marden  his  English  estate,    ..  ..  ..  ..  ..26 

11  II  M  sold,     ..  ..  .-  .-  104 

moves  to  Albion,    ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  134,  159 

negotiates  the  sale  of  New  Harmony,  ..  ..  ..     61,279 

Park  House,  the  Illinois  residence  of  ..  ..  -.131 

preaches  at  Albion,         ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  171 

wife  of      ..  -.  ..  ..  ..  ..  315-6 

Fort  Madison,  Iowa,  ..  -.  ..  ..  ..  170 

Snelling,   ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..     320 

St.  Anthony,    ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  320 

Founders  of  colonies,  losses  and  gains  of   ..  ..  ..  354-7 

Fox  River,  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  115 

Fox-River  Township,     ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..     226 

Foxe's  "Book  of  Martyrs,"  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  315 

France,  ..  ..  ..  23.4,  27,  28,  59,  79,  361,  363,  364 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS.  385 

Frederickstown,  Mo., 
Free-school  system,  advantages  of 
Free-states, 

Free-thinking  christians, 
French, 

Canadians, 

Creek  Prairie, 

Institute, 

Settlement  on  Tombigbee, 
Friends,  the     .  - 
Fulton  County, 

G. 

Galena, 

Congressional  District,  .. 

lead  mines, 
Gallatin  County,     .. 

saline, 
Georgia,    . . 
Germans, 
Germany, 

Gibson  County,  Indiana, 
Girondins, 

Glamorganshire,  Wales, 
Grayville, 
Great  Britain, 

uneasiness  felt  by  the  agriculturalists  of 
Great  Wabash, 
Greene  County, 
Grundy  County, 
Guernsey,  island  of 
Gulf  of  Mexico, 
Gwathway's  Hotel,  Louisville,  ..  --  --  --  320 

H. 

Hammersmith,  England,  ..  -.  --  --  --99 

Harmonic  (see  New  Harmony),  ..  ..  --  --  61 

Harmony,  Pa.,  ..  ..  --  --  --  34>  62 

Hatton  Garden,  London,       ..  ..  --  --  --  96 

Havre,  ..  ..  ..  --  --  --  --     367 

Hayti,        ..  ..  ..  -.  --   14,  265,  268,  270,  271,  272 

colonization  scheme,  ..  --  --  --         I4>  265.72 

H  11         discouraged,  ..  --  --         271.2 

HazleHill,      ..  ..  ..  ..  --  --  --       99 

Hebrews,  ..  ..  ..  --  --  --  221 

25 


1 

AGE. 

10 

344-5 

208 

-- 

.- 

320 

58-9 

78, 

141, 

162, 

371 

-- 

_. 

72 

,  73, 

I  10 

-- 

-- 

307 

371 

78 

18,  I 

9.  25, 

36, 

147, 

148 

-- 

-- 

206 

170, 

187 

187 

321 

10 

.  II. 

170, 

253, 

291, 

292 

-- 

-- 

198 

.200, 

225 

217, 

230 

61 

78, 

137, 

279, 

281, 

316 

367 

56 

-- 

369 

190 

9,  10 

,  99. 

136, 

155. 

157. 

266 

76 

77, 

238, 

280 

226-7 

II.  53 

73. 

130, 

279 

198 





II 



169 



189 

386  INDEX    OF   SUBJECTS. 


\-.M,F. 


Hertford,          ..              ..  --             --              --  364,365,368,372 

Hertfordshire,  England,         ..  ..              --       13.  26,  157,  193,  315,  361 

Horseback  traveling,      -.  -.              --              --  85.7,295.8,301 

House  of  Commons,  England,  ..              ..  --              -.             235 

Hudson  Bay  Company,  -  -              -  -              -  -  - .              .  -     320 

Hunter-class,  disappearance  of  ..              --  --              --              184 

Hunting  (see  also  elk,  buffalo,  deer,  etc. ),  --  --               308.10 

I. 

Illinois,  7,  8,  9,  10,  li,  12,  13,  14,  15,  16,  38,  48,  51,  53,  56,  59,  60,  61,  63, 
71,  73>  77,  92,  loi,  104,  105,  106,  162,  187,  192,  196,  209,  210,  213, 
215,  234,  240,  245,  256,  261,  359. 
admitted  as  free  state,     ..  ..  ..  --  .-  227.9 

congressman's  district,  ..  ..  --  .-  ..120 

efforts  to  introduce  slavery  iniu    ..  ..  ..  13-4.  '97-247 

GazeiU,      ..  .-  ..  --  207,  210,  216,  224,  235,  242 

Governors,        ..  ..  ..  .-  --    187,  205,  206,  247 

in  1812,    .-  --  ..  --  --  --  120.I 

Intelligencer,     ..  ..  -.  -.  --  224,  226,  244 

judges  of  U.  S.  court  in         -.  --  --  --  ..81 

legislative  council  in  1816. 18,       ..  --  --  --  17°' 

legislature  in  1820.22,  .-  --  --  --         184,202.5 

and  Michigan  Canal,      ..  --  --  --  --  206 

"Monthly  Magazine,"  ..  --  --  --  -.292 

northern,  ..  .-  --  --  --  --  '98 

northwestern  circuit  in  1841.42,  ..  -.  -.  --      '7° 

southern,  --  --  -.  --  --  --  7^ 

prairies,     .-  --  --  --  --  --  ..loo 

,1      ignorance  of,     ..  .-  --  --  3^»  38,  5°)  63 

Republican,  ..  --  --  --  --  --     219 

slavery  in         ..  ..  --  --  --         198-200,253.4 

supreme  court,         ..  ..  --  --  --  --     202 

territorial  delegate,  ..  .-  --  --  --  ^'^ 

U.  S.  senator,  ..  -.  --  --  --  --     205 

India, -  --  --  i°> 

Indiana,  11,  14,  48,  49,  5°,  5',  53,  76,  125,  169,  192,  209,  261,  262,  263,  294. 
Indian  mound,         ..  --  --  --  --  --  7' 

Indians,  34,  35,  52,  59,  63,  66,  68,  73,  263,  357-S 

as  wrestlers,      ..  ..  --  --  --  --  ^94 

Intemperance  among  pioneers  (see  also  temperate  habits  of  English  settlers) 

72,  138,  142,  251,  252,  265,  276,  348 

Iowa,  '70 

Ireland, 91,94,  158,  369 

Iroquois  Couuiy,  --  --  --  --  --  ..        li 


INDEX    OF   SUBJECTS.  387 


PAGE. 


Israelites  and  slavery,             ..             -.  ..             ..              --         220.1 

J- 

Jamaica,  island  of           ..              ..  ..             ..             ..             137,  158 

Jasper  County,         ..              ..              ..  ..              -.              --                il 

Jefferson  County,             ..             ..  ..              --             --             ..11 

town  of            .-             --             --  --             --             --               35 

Joe  Daviess  County,       . .             - .  . .             . .             . .             - .      1 70 

K. 

Kane  County,          ..              -.              ..  --             --             --               n 

Kankakee  County,          ..              --  ..             .-             --              ..11 

Kaskaskia,                --              ..              ._  --              .-              --     120,  184 

River,       ..              --              .-  --             --             --             --     163 

Kelshall,  England,                  ._              -.  .-             --              -.             315 

Kendall  County,              --  --             --              --             ..ii 

Ohio,                 --              --              --  --             --             --               34 

Kennebec  County,  Maine,              __  _-              --             --             ..169 

Kent,         ..              --              --              --  --              --              --              144 

Kentucky,        ..       36,38,57,58,76,173,199,210,211,213,215,216,291 

L. 

LaG range,  France,                ..             ..  -.             --             --    3'^3'  3^4 

Lake  County,                  .-             -.  ..             --             --             ..11 

Lanark,  Scotland,                   ..             ..  ..             --             --             279 

Land,  government,  price  of          ..  -.             .-             --             -.211 

11  unable  to  get  extension  of  time  of  payment  for,        75,  80 

office,  Shawneetown,  recently  opened,  181 8,     ..  --             --       5^ 

advantages  in  gradual  taking  up  of  .  -              -  -             .  -             350 

LaSalle  County,              -.              .-  --             --             --              __ii 

LaVillette's  Ferry,                  ..             ..  --             --           7°,  72,  73.  74 

Lawrence  County,           --              --  --             --             --               u,  19^ 

Lawrenceville,          ..             --             --  --              --             --             298 

Lee  County,     .-              --             --  --             --             --             .-170 

Leicestershire,  England,         ..             .-  --             --             --             I44 

Lexington,  Ky.,               ..              ..  --            36,  102,  104,   131,  159,  278 

Lincoln  County,  Ky.,            .-             ..  ..             --             --               3^ 

Lincolnshire,  England,                    ..  ..              -.              --    162,  166,  288 

Litchfield,  Maine,                   ..             --  --              --              --             169 

Little  Wabash,                ..              _-  .-     70,  71,  126,  130,  149,  265,  334 

Lithographic  establishment,                  --  --             --             --         3^6-7 

Liverpool,  England,       ..             -.  --             --               3°,  92,  100,  156 

Livingston  County,                  .-              ..  -.              --              --                u 

Log-cabins,  description  and  price  of  -.             --              --               129.30 

disappearance  of             -.             ..  --             --             --             33'^ 


388  INDEX    OF   SUBJECTS. 

PAGE. 

London,  24,  54,  81,  92,  94,  97,  99,  loi,  105,   122,  135,  137,  150,  156,  157, 

189,  289,  303,  320,  362,  364,  365,  366. 

Long-Prairie,    -.              --              --  --              --              --              -.73 

Lost  child,                ..              --  --              --              --              --         307-8 

Louisville,  Ky.,               ..              ..  --97,  102,  104,  109,  181,  201,  320 

Lcnvell  CoiD'ier,         -.              ..  -.              --              --              --              181 

M. 

Macon  County,                -.              -.  --              ..              --              ..11 

Madison  County,     ..              -.  .-              .-              --             ..11,198 

Mail,  interruption  of..              ..  ..              ..              ..                82,  94 

Mammoth  Cave,      ..              ..  ..              ..              --              --           38.9 

Marden,            .-              ..              -.  .-            26,  104,  364,  365,  368,  372 

]\Iarion  County,       .-              -.  -.              --              --              --                u 

Market  for  farmers' produce,         ..  ..              ..              --              -.313 

house,                --              --  ..              ..              --              --              133 

Marriage  licenses  and  fees,  early  ..              ..              -.                 312.3 

Martinsburgh,  Va.,                  ..  --              ..              --             -.     141,290 

Maysville,         ..              ..              ..  --             --             --             --      I45 

McHenry  County,                   ..  ..              -.             .-              --                n 

McLean  County,             ..              ..  ..              ..              -.             ..11 

Mercer  County,       -.              --  ..             .-              --              --              17° 

Methodist  camp-meeting,               ..  ..             -.             .-                  173-7 

church,              -.              .-  ..              -.              .-              --              1 74 

settlement,                ..              --  ..              ..              -.             --     202 

Mexico,     ..              -.              -.  ..              ..            48,118,254,291,358 

city  of        --              ..             --  --             --             --             --     358 

Mill,          ..              .-              -.  --              --              --             --              134 

Mississippi  River,            ..              ..  -.             .-    38.120,121,313,320 

State  of             .-              .-  --             --             --              --               40 

Missouri,  State  of           ..              --  ..             .-              --        4°,  53-  216 

Montgomery  County,              ..  ..              --             --             --              198 

Monticello,       ..              ..              --  --             -.             --        24,  32,  371 

1816  and  1882,                ..  --             --             --             --               44 

Mosquitoes,      ..              ..              ..  --              -.              --             --     335 

Mount  Carmel,        ..              ..  -.              -.           135,138,174,177,186 

Mount  Vernon,  Ind.,      ..             ..  ..             --                 9,10,123,373 

Murders,                   ..              ..  ..             --             --             --     138,  277 

Mushanon  Creek,            ..              ..  -.              --             --              --33 

N. 

Nashville,                 .-             ..  --             --              --             --         38,  39 

Nantucket,       -.             ..             --  --             --             --             --34 

National  Road,        . .              . .  -  -              - .              -  -              -  -             299 

Negroes,  American  hatred  of..  .-              --             --             --     260 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS.  389 


TAGE. 


New  England,          ..             ..             ..             --             --  18,186,339 

New  Harmony,  Ind.,  32,  60.1,  63,  6^,  114,  115,  119,  136,  137,  159,  165,  167, 

254,  255,  256,  278,  279,  281-6,  289,  325,  358,  372,  373,  374. 

New  Lanark,  Scotland,                 ..             ..             --  --              62,372 

New  Orleans,  40,  147,  157,  164,  189,  210,  232,  268,  269,  270,  313,  316,  325 
New- York  City,  30,  31,  91,  92,   102,  118,  119,  148,  149,    168,  184,  195,  271, 

272,  303.  3*6i. 

State  of    ..             --             .-             --             --  195,208,217,227 

Niagara,                   .-              --              --              --             --  --              107 

North-Bend,     ..              ..             ..             ..             --  --             --       5^ 

North-Britain,          ..              ..              --              --              --  --              372 

North  Carolina,               ..              --             --             --  --            213,217 

North-western  Company,       -.              .-              --              --  --              320 

States,       ..             --              .-              --             --  --             --     174 

Territory,          ..              --              --              --              --  --              320 

Norfolk,  England,          ..             --             .-             --  --             --     H9 

Virginia,           --              --              --              --              --  --               26 

Nottinghamshire,  England,           ..             ..             --  --             loi,  145 

Norway,   ..             --              --              --             •--             --  --             '^i 

O. 

Ogle  County,    ..              -.              --             --             --  --             ..     170 

Ohio  River,  11,  38,  49,  102,  103,  105,  106.7,  108,  109,  123,  144,  148,  198,  320. 

dangerous  crossing,                 - .             -  -             -  -  -  -             -  -       49 

navigating  the                  -.             --             --              --  --          106.7 

State  of    ..             --              --              --       49.  5°,  78,  165,  192,  209,  215 

OIney,  Illinois,        ..             ..             --             --             --  --     I55,  303 

Oppelousas,      ..             ..             --             --             --  --             --4° 

Opossum,                 -.             --              --             --             --  --               59 

Oxfordshire,     ..              .-              --              --              --  --              --      108 

1 

P. 

Pacific  Ocean,         ..             ..             --             --             --  ..      84,  120 

Palestine,  Illinois,           ..             --             --             --  --             ..187 

Palmyra,  Illinois,    ..              ..              ..              --              --  u,  138.  261 

Panthers,          ..             --             --             --             --  --                 3o8-9 

Paris, 361,362,365.366,367,370 

Park  House,     ..  99,  132,  I53,  '59,  165,  166,  277,  290,  301,  315,  326 

Pau,  France,            ..              --              --              --              --  --              321 

Peasants  of  France,  artistic  taste  of             ..              --  --              --24 

Pennsylvania,  ..  --  18,  33,  184,  185,  195,  208,  217,  239,  274 

Peoria,              ..             --             --             --             --  --             --     3°! 

Petersburg,               ..              --              --              --              --  --              ^69 

Philadelphia,  19,  32,  36,  45,  59,  85,  91,  92,  93,  99,  103,  143,  144,  150,  152, 
168,  172,  271,  272,  302,  303,  361. 


390  INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 

PAGE. 

Piankeshaw  Indians,      ..              ..  ..             ..              ..             124,  358 

Piatt  County,           ..              ..              ..  ..              .-              ..                11 

Pickaway  Indians,          .-              -.  .-              .-              -.             ..35 

plains,               ..              --             --  --              --             .-               34 

Pigeon  Creek,  Ind.,        ..              ..  ..              --              -.              ..      163 

Pike  County,            ..              ..              ..  -.              ..              -.     198,206 

Pioneer  life,     ..             ..              ..  ..              ..             ..                 68.72 

M    unlike  English,  .-              ..  -.             -.             ..           93-4 

specimen  of             .-             .-  --              --              --                 66,  67 

reflections  on                   ..             .-  ..              --             ..               71 

Pittsburgh,   33,  34,  49,  51,  90,  99,    102,  103,    105,    106,   135,  144,  150,  156, 

162,  192,  277,  302,  303,  320,  372. 

"Pittsburgh  Navigator,"                .-  ..              ..              --              ..106 

Plymouth,  England,               ..              ..  --              -.              ..              135 

Poplar  Forest,                 ..             ..  --              --              --          38,43.77 

Pork  of  Albion,  high  price  received  for  ..              ..             ..             317 

Port-au-Prince,                --              --  --              --              --              --     268 

Posey  County,  Indiana,         ..             ..  --              --              --                 9 

Postage  rates,                  ..             ..  --             --             --             --     359 

Prairie  ignorance,                    ..             ..  --              --              --         60,  63 

changing  appearance  of         ..  .-             --             --                179.81 

fire,                    --              --              --  -.               .-              --     180,  353 

flies,          .-             .-              --  --              --              --             --65 

Princeton,  Ind.,      ..  56,  57,  60,  67,  72,  82,  83,  84,  85,  104,  112,  116 

Produce,  price  of             ..              ..  --              --              --              --     278 

Quakers  (see  Friends),          ..              ..  ..          18,  19,  25,  36,  243,  254 

R. 

Racoon,            ..              ..             .-  ..             .-             ..             --59 

Railroad  building,  ..              -.              --  --              --              --         334-5 

Ramsey's  Station,           ..              --  --              --              --              --293 

Randolph  County,                  -.              -.  --              --              --             198 

Red-River  Colony,         ..             ..  .-             --             --             -.     321 

of  the  North,  .-              ..              .-  --              --              --              320 

Religious  sentiment  in  the  Settlement,  --              --              --                166.82 

Republican  Advocate,               ..              .-  --              --              --     219,240 

Richland  County,            ..              --  --             --             --             ..11 

Richmond,  \'a.,      .-              -.             --  --             --             --        45>  47 

River  Raisin,  ..              ..              .-  --              --              --              --69 

Rivers,  dangerous  crossing  of               --  --             --    49-5°)  88.90,  295 

Road  making,                  ..              ..  .-              --              --    I33.  '35.  313 

from  Chambersburgh  to  Pittsburgh,  ..              --              --              103 

Roads,  American  and  English      - .  -  -              -  -             -  -             -  -     103 


INDEX   OF    SUBJECTS.  39 1 


PAGE. 


Koads,  early  (see  Trace)        --             .-  --             --             --           61.2 

Robert  Burns,  ship,         . .              -  -              -  -  -  -              -  -              . .       30 

Rochester,  Illinois,                 --             --  --             --             --               73 

Rock-Island  County,      -_              --             --  --             --             --     170 

Rock  Spring,  Illinoi  ,             --              --  --              --              --              206 

Roman  Catholics,            --              --             --  --             --             --I74 

church,               --              --              --  --              --              --              -72 

Russia,              .-              --              --             --  --             --             --24 

S. 

Saline  District,        ..             -.             --  --             --             --             198 

Sandon,  England,           ..              --              --  --              --              -.315 

San  Francisco,         ..             --             --  --              --             --             17° 

Sangamon  County,         --             --             --  --             --             ig^j  206 

Schools  in  France,                  .-             --  --              --        .362,363,365.6 

difficulties  in  sustaining  in  Illinois,       ..  ..              ..              --     338 

Lancastrian,     ..              -.              --  --              --              --          3^5 -6 

price  of  tuition  in  Illinois,     ..              -.  --              --              --      186 

and  school-houses,  early                 --  .-              --              --        337-45 

Scioto  River,                    ..              --              --  --              --              --35 

Scotland,                 ..             .-             --  --            94,  i73,  364,  369.  374 

Sea  voyages,  dangerous  and  tedious            .  -  -  -             -  -              92,  102 

Seine  River,             ..             ..             --  --             --              --             3^7 

Settlers  (see  English  Settlement),  losses  of  ..             .-             --     353 

from  different  localities,  characteristics  of  --             .-             --          184.7 

Severn,  River    .              _-              --              --  ..              ..              ..190 

Shakers,   ..             --              --              --  --             --             --       57.  260 

Shawneetown,  38,  50,  51,  75,  99,  108,  122,  128,  164,  168,  170,  198,  200,  228, 

253,  261,  267,  268.9,  278,  292,  293,  294,  316. 

Shawneetown  Gazette,      ..              ..              --  209,  228,  229,  234,  253,  267- 

Spectator,           ..              ..              -.  --              --              --              292 

Shelby  County,               ..              ..             -.  --             --             ..il 

Ship  voyage,  dismal  nature  of              ..  --             --             --               92 

Siberia              ..              --              .-              --  --              --              --      180 

Skye,  Isle  of           ..             ..             --  --             --             --        9,374 

Slave-states,  settlers  from  (see  also  Southerners),     ..  --             ..       71 

Slave-trade  declared  piracy,                   --  -.              --              --              238 

Slavery  (see  Birkbeck's  letters),  210,  215,  216,   219,   225,  228,  230,  231,  234, 
235,  240,  243,  244. 

a  curse  to  Western  Virginia,          ..  --             --             --               45 

efforts  to  introduce  into  Illinois,            ..  ..                   24.5,197.256 

,,             ,,                M              incident  in  struggles,              ..             170 

English  efforts  to  modify,      ..              ..  ..             --                 235.8 

extension  in  U.  S.  of     . .             . .  .  -             -  -             -  -             238 


392  INDEX   OF    SUBJECTS. 

I' AGE. 

Snow  storm,  lost  in        ..              ..  ..             ..             ..             ..     300 

Socicte  Philantropique,          ..  ..              ..              ..              ..              36=; 

Southerners  as  settlers,  ..              ..  ..              187.8,  202,  216,  246,  260 

Southern  States,     ..              ..  ..             ..              ..            162,  185,  202 

Spain,                ..              ..              ..  ..              ..              ..               24,  172 

Speculators,             ..              ..  ..             ..             ..              ..              16& 

attacks  of                 _-              ..  ..             ..              ..              ..     195 

discouraged,     -.              ..  ..             ..              ..              ..       349.51 

fear  of       ..              ..             ..  ..              .,              ._             75.6,8a 

Springfield,  Illinois,                ..  ..              ._              _.              n,  187,  291 

St.  Clair  County,            ..              ..  ..              ..              ..              _.     206 

St.  Domingo,            ..              ..  ..              ..              ..               ..   229,  267 

St,  Lawrence,  Gulf  of    __              ..  ..             ..              ..              ..189 

St.  Louis,                 ..              __  ..              --53.  120,  128,  201,  320,  325 

Stephenson  County,        ..              ..  ..              ..              ..              ..170 

Succotash,                ..              ..  ..              ._              ..              ..               59 

Sunbury,  England,         __              ..  ._              ..              ..              ..32 

Surrey,  England,    ..              ..  ..              ..      20,  96,  134,  147,  148,  149 

Susquehanna  River,        ..              ..  ._              ..              ..              -.32 

Supplies,  from  whence  drawn,  ..              ..              ..              ..              278- 

Sweden,            ..              ..              ..  ,.              ..              ..              ..      181 

Swiss  Settlement  on  Ohio,    . .  . .              . .          ■    . .              . .                78 

T. 

Tartary,            ..              ..              ..  ..              ..              ..              ..      180 

Temperate  habits  in  Settlement,  . .              . .              . .              . .             335 

Tennessee,        ..              ..              ..  ..              ..     71,  119,  189,  199,  213 

mountains,        . .              . .  . .              . .              . .              . .               40 

Terre  Haute,    . .              . .              . .  . .              . .              -  -       53 

Texas,        . .              . .              . .  . .              . .              . .              . .             338 

Therfield,  England,         ..               ..  ..               ..               ..               ..      315 

Timber-land  avoided  by  English,  . .               . .               . .               . .              352 

Time  and  expense  of  average  trip  from  East,  in  1818.23,       ..  302.3 

Tippecanoe,  Battle  of             . .  . .              . .              . .              . .               52 

Trace  across  Illinois,      . .              . .  . .              . .              . .              -  -       53 

blind,  ..  ..  ..  ..  121 

from  Vincennes  to  St.  Louis,  . .              . .              . .              . .     297 

Traveling  in  1 8 18  and  i860,  ..               ..               ..               ..          302.3 

by  stage,  boat,  and  on  horsel^iack,         ..  ..               ..                  49-74 

Trinidad,                   ..              ..  ..              ..              ..              ..             236 

Tombigbee,      . .              . .              . .  . .              . .              . .              . .        78 

Town-meetings,        ..               ..  ..               ..               ..               ..               183 

Turkey,  wild    . .              . .              . .  . .              . .              . .               59,  1 1 1 

Tuscar  Lighthouse,                  . .  . .              . .              . .              . .               91 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS.  393 

PAGE. 

u. 

United  States,                  -.              ..          27,  112,  172,  189,  238,  316,  321,  371 

ignorance  in  England  of  the  ..               ..               ..               ..  189 

Land  Court,  California,          ..              ..              ..              ..  ..187 

reflection  on  the              ..  ..              ..              ..              ..  27.9 

V. 

Vandalia,    120,  121,  139,  184,  20I,  206,  210,   224,  242,  243,   247,   24S,  251, 

252,  253,  292,  294,  295. 

Venison,  price  of    ..              ..              --  ..              --              --              119 

Vermillion  County,          -.               ..  ..               ..               ..               ..11 

Vermont,                  ..              ..              .-  ..              --              --     208,217 

Verona,             ..              ..              ..  --              --              --              --     234 

Vignon,  France,      ..              ..              ..  --              -.              --             37^ 

Village-chime,  charm  of  the         ..  ..              ..              ..              ..172 

Prairie,              ..               ..               --  124,  125,  127,  152,  153,  155,  159 

Vincennes,         ..  51,  52.3,  56,  102,  128,  135,  136,  192,  261,  262,  303 

Virginia,..              ..              ..              ..  18,38,40,43,45,92,208,217 

W. 

Wabash  County,      . .  . .  .  -  - .  -  -  -  -  1 1 

River,    53,   60,    61,    73,    102,    106,    120,    I2i,    144,    162,    187,   206,   212, 
266,  267. 
ferries,  ..  ..  ..  ..  --  51,  60,  63 

fording  of  (see  also  Great  Wabash  and  Little  Wabash),   . .  63 

valley;       ..  ..  ..  -.  --  60,  61,  62,  170 

Wales,       ..  ..  ..  -.  ..  --       36,  94,  189,  190 

V\^anborough,  England,  ..  ..  ..  . .    20,  24,  48,  97 

Illinois,  65,  100,  115,  116,    126,    130,    147,  149.  158.  169,  173,  243,  245, 

358,  373- 

Washington  City,    ..  ..               ..               ..                81,83,294,325,371 

County,    ..              ..  ..              ..              --              --              ..198 

Pennsylvania,  ..               --               --               --               --              '55 

Warwrickshire,  England,  ..              ..              --              --             159,279 

War  of  1812,           ..  --              ..              ..              --              --       57,  266 

of  the  Rebellion,     ..  ..              .-              --              --              ..10 

Water,  difficulty  of  obtaining  ..               -.               --         119,130.1,134 

Waterloo,         ..              ..  ..              --              --              --              --368 

Wayne  County,        ..  ..               --               --               --                 11,12,198 

Wealth,  production  of    ..  ..               -.               --               --                  232.3 

Well,  child  in          ..  ..              ..              --              --              --              i53 

digging,  dangeis  of  ..              ..              --              --         I54>  'SS-^ 

Western  States,        ..  ..               --               --               --               --              iSl 

West  Indies,    ..              ..  ..              --              --              --               94,  236 

Wheeling,                ..  ..             --             --             --             --             i55 


394  INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 

PAGE. 

Whipping-post,               ..              ..  --              --                -              --      14' 

White  County,         ..              ..              ..  9.  109,  142,  200,  226,  253,  290 

White  River,    ..              ..              .-  --              --              -■              --263 

Indians,             ..               ..               ..  --               --               --              263 

Whitesides  County,         ..              -.  --              --              --              ..170 

Wild  animals,          ..              ..              ..  --              --              --       308- 10 

Will  County,    ..               .-               --  --               --.             -•               ..        Ii 

Williams'  Ferry,      . .              . .              - .  -  -              -  -              -  -               64 

Winnebago  County,        ..              -.  -.              --              ■-              ..170 

Wisconsin,                ..               ..               ..  --                 -                 -                 12 

Wi//tam  Penn,  steamer,                 ..  ..              ..              --              --     373 

Wolves,    ..              ..              -.              .-  .-              --              --       308-10 

Y. 

Yankees,  ..          ...              ..              ..  --              -•              --              169 

Yeatley,  Surrey,              . .              -  -  -  -              -  -              -  ■              -  -       9^ 

York,  City  of          ..              ..              --  --                -              --              I59 

Factory,    . .              . .              . .  -  -              -  -              -  -              -  -     320 

Yorkshire,  England,               ..              .-  -.              --             I43>  I59>  3I7 

Z. 

Zacatecas,  Mexico,                  . .              - .  -  -              -  -              -  -             254 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS. 


Adams,  John,  28. 

Adams,  John  Ouincy,  81,  324,  372. 

Agniel,  Mrs.,  9. 

Alfred  the  Great,  317. 

Allen,  William,  364. 

"Americanus,"  242,  243,  244. 

Anderson,  John,  70. 

Anderson,  Mr.,  181. 

Andrews,  Eliza  Julia,  48,  54,  55. 

{See  Flower,  Airs.  George  J 
Andrews,  Mordicah,  48. 
Applegath,  Joseph,  289,  303. 
Arnold,  Isaac  N.,  7. 
Arthur,  Mr.,  260,  261,  262, 
Arthur,  Samuel,  163,  164. 
Ayres,  Thomas,  150. 


Bakewell,  Thomas,  34. 

Balwin,  Rrc\  Mr.,  171. 

Ballard,  Jeremiah,  132. 

Banks,  Air.,  366,  367. 

Bankson,  Andrew,  198. 

Barker,  Mr.,  366. 

Barney,  Eliza,  312. 

Barry,  William,  13. 

Beevoir,  Lady,  325-6. 

Beevoir,  Thomas,  325-6. 

Bennett,  David,  loi,   102. 

Birk,  Capl.,  66,  67,  68,  71,  119,  120, 
124. 

Birk,  Mrs.,  66. 

Birkbeck,  Bradford,  47,  50,  51,  60, 
84,  118,  254,  255,  256. 

Birkbeck,  Charles,  47,  254,  255. 

Birkbeck.  Eliza,   48,  54,  84.     (See 
Pell,  Mrs.  Eliza.; 

Birkbeck,  Morris,  Sr.,  19. 

Birkbeck,  Morris,  Jr.  (see  Subject  In- 
dex), 7,  9,  II,  13,  19,  20,  21,  23, 
24,  25,  26,  46,  55,  58,  72-4,  81-3, 
91-3.  97-9.  100.  109,  1 12-5,  116, 
130.  177-9,  209-45,  247-8,  255, 
350,  358,  362,  363-  364,  365.  367, 
368,  371.  372,  373- 


Birkbeck,  Prudence,  48,  54,  86,  116, 

158.     (See  Hanks,  Mrs.) 
Birkett,  Henry,  158,  264. 
Blackwell,  David,  25. 
Blake,  Judge,  56. 
Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  23,  362. 
Bond,  Shadrach,  170,  246. 
Bouhley,  Mr.,  374. 
Boucher,  Rn<.  Mr.,  169. 
Bowman,  Henry,  157. 
Bowman,  Mrs.  Henry  (Simkins),  157. 
Boyer,  President,   14,  265,  266. 
Brenchly,  John,  152-3. 
Brenchly,  Mrs.  John,  1 52-3. 
Brissenden,  John,  144,  145,  189. 
Brissenden,  Mrs.  John  (Mea),    144, 

145- 
Brown,  Basil,  60. 
Brown,  Thomas,  169. 
Brown,  Mrs.  Thomas,  169. 
Browne,  Jesse  B.,  170,  171,  246. 
Browne,  Thomas  C.,  170,  253,  292. 
Bumbery,  Samuel,  312. 
Buntin,  James,  316. 
Burris,  Gilbeit,  260. 
Butler,  Joseph,  144. 


Calhoon,  Mr.,  104. 
Calhoon,  Mrs.,  104. 
Calvin,  Neptune,  260. 
Campbell,  Thompson,  187. 
CandoUe,  Augustin  Pyrame  de,  23. 
Canning,  George,  236-7. 
Carey,  Matthew,  361. 
Carter,  James,  137,  156,  301. 
Carter,  Mrs.  James,  156,  162. 
Cave,  William,  165. 
Cave,  Mrs.  William,  165. 
Chabot,  M.,  369. 
Charles  H.,  18. 
Chase,  Philander,  172. 
Chateaubriand,   Vicomte  de,  359. 
Chetlain,  Augustus  L.,  321. 
Chisholm,  Elijah,  330. 
Churchill,  Charles,  136. 


398 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS. 


Churchill,  James,  136. 

Churchill,  Joel,    135,  136,    137,  329, 

333- 
Clark,  the  murderer,  13b. 

Clark,  William,  148. 

Clay,  Henry,  291. 

Clem,  Thomas,  156. 

Coad,  Edward,  73,  163,  164. 

Coad,  Mrs.  Edward,  164. 

Cobbett,   William,   9,    14,    17S,    193, 

194,  195,  361. 
Coles,  Edward  (see  Subject  Index),  7, 

24-5,  43,  44,  45>  138-40,  170,  205, 

247-8,  253,  267. 
Coles,  Isaac,  43,  44. 
Coles,  John,  43,  44. 
Coles,  AJr„  156,  157. 
Coles,  Mrs.  156. 
Coles,  Walter,  43. 
Columbus,  Christopher,  273. 
Condorcet,  Marchioness  de,  368. 
Condorcet,  Marquis  de,  14,  368-9. 
Constable,  D.,  322-5. 
Coombs,  Matthew,  153,  163. 
Cook,  Daniel  P.,  246. 
Corey,  Adam,  333. 
Corrie,  Adam,  lOi. 
Cowling,  George,  162. 
Cowling,  Plenry,  162. 
Cowling,  John,  73,  162. 
Crackles,  Joseph,  1 65-6,  288. 
Crackles,  Kelsey,  155-6,  288. 
Crackles,  Thomas,  165-6,  288. 
Cradock,  Mr.,  374. 
Cradock,  Mrs.,  374. 
Crawford,  Mr.,  364. 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  316. 
Curtis,  William,  172. 


D. 

Dalby,  Mr.,  330-1. 
Darcet,  Mr.,  366. 
Davidson,  William  H.,  142,  291. 
Dement,  Henry  Dodge,  10,  II. 
Dewese,  Dr.,  33. 
Dickson,  Francis,  136,  332. 
Donaldson,  Mr.  35. 
Drake,  Dr.,  36. 
Dransfield,  Mr.,  307. 
Drunimond,  Thomas,  81. 
Duane,  William,  361. 
Duncan,  Joseph,  247,  252. 
Du  Vasty,  M.,  229. 


E. 

Eddy,  Henry,  291-2,  294-5. 
Edwards,  Ninian,  206,  291. 
Ellis,  Jack,  139-41. 
Ellis,  Mrs.,  162. 


Fearon,  Henry  Bradshaw,   195,  319. 

Ferryman,  George,  137. 

Field,  Richard,  162. 

Field,  Mrs.  Richard  (Ellis),  162. 

Filder,  Mr.,  loi,  102,  192-3. 

Fitch,  John,  273. 

Flack,  James,  91. 

Flower,  Alfred,  9,  317. 

Flower,  Camillus,  317. 

Flower,  Edward  Fordham,  loi,  159, 
279,  306,  316,  318. 

Flower,  George  (see  Index  of  Subjects) 
7,  9,  10,  12,  13,  14,  15,  16,  23- 
4,  26,  30,  32-3,  35,  36,  37,  39,  40- 
2,  43-4,  45-6,  48,  51,  52-3,  45-70, 
73-4,  76-80,  84,  85,  86,  91,  92, 
103-8,  109-16,  120-4,  125-31,  133, 
163,  173-7,  181,  194,  260-70,  275- 
6,  277,  297-8,  301-2,  303,  305-7, 
315-6,  318-26,  335,  350,  358-60, 

361-74- 
Mower,  Mrs.   George  (Andrews),  9, 

10,  15,  46,  55,   56,  57,   69,   84-91, 

104,    109,  122-3,    146,  153,  297-8, 

301,  308-9,  359-60,  373,  374- 

Flov.er,  Martha,  159,  160. 

(See  Pickering,  Mrs.  William,  j 

Flower,  Mary  Catherine,  99. 
f^^'ff  Ronalds,  Mrs.  Hugh  J 
.  Flower,  Richard  (see  Index  of  Subjects) 

12,  25,   26,   61,    102,    103,    131,    132, 

134,  135,  159,  171.  183. 279, 314- 

Flower,  Mrs.  Richard(Fordham),3i5. 
Flower,  Richard, y;-.,  108,  109,277-8. 
Flower,  Richard,  Jr.  (4th  son),  10. 
Flower,  William,  101,  106,  109,  132, 

315- 
Flower,  a  babe,  104. 

Ford,  John,  205. 

Ford, ./!/«.  Prudence  (Birkbeck),  358. 
Ford,  Thomas,  187,  204. 
Fordham,  Edward  King,  328. 
Fordham,  Elias  P.,  48,  56,  109,  125, 

127,  135- 
Fordham,  Maria,  101,  103,  109,  122. 
Fox,  Charles  James,  324. 
Fox,  Mr.,  364. 


INDEX   OF   PERSONS. 


399 


Franklin,  Benjamin,  aS,  368. 
Frederick,  Lord,  327-8. 
French,  Augustus  C,  187. 
French,  Mr.,  330-1. 
Fulton,  Robert,  273. 


Gahee,  David,  312. 

Ganaway,  John,  299. 

Gard,  Seth,  312. 

Garton,  Elizabeth,  48. 

Gaultier,  Abbe,  9,  362,  363,  364;  365. 

Gilbert,  Mr.,  150,  269. 

Gillard,  Mr.,  47,  48. 

Granville,  Citizen,  271. 

Graves,  John,  193. 

Grayham,  Robert,  265,  266,  267,  268, 

269,  270. 
Gregoire,  M.,  366. 
Gregory,  Mrs.,  2,1  A- 
Griscom,  Prof.,  272. 
Grouchy,  Emmanuel,  368. 
Grutt,  Benjamin,  128. 

H. 

Hall,  Edward,  15 1-2. 

Hall,  Robert,  15 1-2. 

Hall,  James,  292. 

Hall,  William,   149,  150,  151-2. 

Hall,  Mrs.  William,  149. 

Hall,  Mr.,  255,  302. 

Hallum,  William,  158. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  324. 

Hanks,  F"rancis,  116-8,  158. 

Hanks,  Airs.  Francis  (Birkbeck),  1 16- 
8,  158,  358.  (See  Birkbeck,  Pru- 
dence.^ 

Hansen,  Nicholas,  198,  204,  205. 

Harding,  Thomas,  263. 

Hargrave,  Willis,  142,  200,  224,  252. 

Harp,  Mr.,  40. 

Harris,  George,  329. 

Harris,  Gibson,  136. 

Harris,  Mr.,  70,  71. 

Harris,  William,  145,  146,  278. 

Harrison,  William  H.,38,  51,  52,  169, 
266. 

Harrison,  Mrs.  William  H.,  51. 

Harwick,  Henry,  137. 

Hawkins,  Capt.,  150. 

Hay,  Daniel,  142. 

Hayes,  S.  S.,  142. 

Hay  ward,  Mr.,  108. 

Henshaw,  Mr.,  137. 

Heth,  Capt.,  26. 


Hettick,  Mrs.,  91. 
Hibert,  Mr.,  150. 
Hibert,  Mrs. ,  150. 
Hobson,  Mr.,  138. 
Hoge,  Joseph  P.,  170. 
Hornbrook,  Mr.,  162-3. 
Hulme,  Mr.,  303,  318. 
Husband,  Richard,  163,  164. 
Huston,  Henry,  65,  374. 
Hutchins,  Benjamin,  171. 

I. 

Imlay,  George,  36. 

Ingle,  John,  Sr.,   loi,  102,   129. 

Ingle,  John,  Jr.,  loi. 


Jackson,  Andrew,  39,  40. 
Jackson,  Mr.,  147. 
Jackson,  Mrs.,  147. 
JefTerson,  Thomas,  9,  14,  24,  28,  31, 
38,  43,  44,  45,  76,  77-80,  83,  324, 

371- 
"John  Rifle,"  209,  212,  214. 
Johns,  John,  330. 
Johnson,  Dr.,  195. 
Johnson,  J.  B.,  1 58-9.      V 
Johnson,  Olive,  374. 
"Jonathan  Freeman,"  209,  210-1,215, 

216-9,  221-3,  225-7,  228-40,  256. 
Jones,  Mary,  312. 
Jones  Fa??iily  (colored),  266. 

K. 

Kane,  Elias  Kent,  291. 
Kean,  John,  73. 
Kearney,  Stephen  Watts,  170. 
Kearsum,  David,  149. 
Kearsum,  George,  149. 
Kenton,  Mr.,  156. 
Kenyon,  Capt.,  102. 
Kidd,  Mr.,  150. 
Kidd,  Mrs.,  150. 
King,  Rufus,  28. 
Kleinworth,  Mr.,  303. 
Kniffer,  Richard,  156. 


Lafayette,  Gen.,  9,  32,  363,  367,  369, 

370,371- 
LaSalle,  Col.,  53,  56. 
Lasteyrie,  Adrieu  Jules,  367. 
Lasteyrie,  Count  de,  9,  14,  361,  362, 

z^i-,  364, 368. 


400 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS. 


LaVallett,  Auguste,  70,  72,  74. 
LaVallett,  Fran9ois,  73. 
Lawrence,  James,  96,  99,  108,  124, 

125,  126,  127,  128,  155,  156. 
Leiter,  Levi  Z.,  7,  16. 
LeSeur,  Mr.,  32. 
Lewis,  Mary,  153. 
Lewis,  John,  134,  i52-3>  293. 
Lewis,  Mr.,  134,  152-3. 
Liddard,  Mr.,  328. 
Lincoln,  Abraliam,  159. 
Lockwood,  Samuel  D.,  202,  294-5. 
Loudon,  Mr.,  361,  362. 
Louis  XVI,  370. 
Lowe,  Col.,  10. 
Lowe,  Dr.,  332. 
Luther,  jMathew,  260. 

M. 

McClure,  William,  254. 

McDonald,  Judge,  261. 

McLean,  John,  261,  291,  292, 

Macdonald,  D.,  9,  373,  374. 

Madison,  James,  44,  45. 

Marter,  John,  15 1. 

Mason,  Edward  G. ,  16. 

Mather,  Thomas,  198. 

May,  John,  166. 

Mayo,  Walter  L.,  331. 

Mayo,  Mrs.,  149. 

Mazere,  M.,  229. 

Mea,  Miss,  144. 

Mellish,  Mr.,  372. 

Michaels,  George,  184,  188-9. 

Michaels,  John,  184,  188-9. 

Michaels,  Moses,    184,  188-9,  261, 

312. 
Miller,  Mr.,  38. 
Mills,  Henry  J.,  246. 
Mirabeau,  Covite  de,  324. 
Monroe,  James,  45. 
Montesquieu,  Baron  de,  162. 
Moran,  J.  H.  O.,  365-6. 
Moses,  221,  223,  241. 
Morgan,  John,  278. 
Mummonie,  Jean,  iii. 

N. 

Nailor,  Mr.,  317. 
Neave,  Jeremiah,  36,  50. 
Niles,  Hezekiah,  361. 

O. 

O'Connor,  Arthur,  369. 

O'Connor,  Madam,  9,  14,  367,  368-9. 


Oldfield,  Mr.,  361. 
Oliver,  Mr.,  166. 
Orange,  Daniel,  157,  158,  171. 
Orange,  Mrs.,  157,  158. 
Owen,  David  Dale,  62. 
Owen,  Robert,  62,  114,  115,  159,  255, 
279,  280-6,  289,  325,  372,  373,  374. 
Owen,  Robert  Dale,  62,  284. 

P. 

Paine,  Thomas,  324,  368. 

Parsons,  Capt.,  30. 

Paul,  Mr.,  150. 

Paul,  Mrs.,  150. 

Payne,  David,  312. 

Peck,  J.  W.,  206. 

Pell,  Gilbert  T.,  25,  116,  118,  168, 

169. 
Pell,  Mrs.  Eliza  (Birkbeck),  116,  119, 

358. 
Penfokl,  Abraham,  129. 
Penfold,  Isaac,  129. 
Penfold,  Jacob,  129. 
Penn,  William,  19,  273,  274,  355-6. 
Perry,  Mr.,  138-41. 
Peters,  Mr.,  156. 
Phillips,  Mr.,  33. 
Phillips,  Joseph,  170. 
Pickering,  Mathew,  160. 
Pickering,  William,   159,    171,  182, 

318,  334. 
Pickering,  Mrs.  W.  (Flower),  160. 
Pitcher,  John,  128,  134,  157. 
Pitt,  William,  324. 
Plough,  Samuel,  312. 
Plough,  Sare,  312. 
Plummer,  J.  B.,  10. 
Pope,  John,  81. 
Pope,  Nathaniel,  80,  81-3. 
Priestly,  Joseph,  32. 
Pritchard,  Edward,  147. 
Pritchard,  Miss,  155. 
Pritchard,  Samuel,  147. 
Pritchard,  Mrs.  Samuel,  147. 
Pritchard,  Thomas,  147. 
Proffitt,  George  H.,  169. 
■Pugsley,  C,  loi,  155. 
Pugsley,  Mrs.  C,  loi. 

R. 

Randolph,  Misses,  43. 

Rapp,  Frederick,  277, 279, 281,  283-5. 

Rapp,  George,  34,  61,  279,  280-6, 

325,  372. 
Rapp,  Gertrude,  283. 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS. 


401 


Raynal,  Abhc,  40. 
Reynolds,  Thomas,  205. 
Ripley,  Gen.,  39,  40. 
Robinson,  John  M.,  142,  291. 
Ronalds,  Hugh,  99,  125,  127,  182, 

264,  300. 
Ronalds,  J/;x  Hugh  (Flower),  99. 

(See  Plower,  Mary,  j 
Rotch,  Francis,  101,  102. 
Rotch,  Thomas,  ^\,  loi,  102. 
Rotch,  Mrs.  Thomas,  34. 
Rousseau,  J.  J.,  324. 

S. 

vSaunders,  Hir.  36. 
Scavington,  John,  145,  146,  189. 
Schofield,  Charles,  317,  330. 
Schofield,  William,  317,  330. 
Scudmore,  Philip,  312. 
Selkirk,  Lord,  320,  321. 
Shaw,  John,  198,  204,  205. 
Shelby,  Got:,  36,  yj,  38. 
Shelby,  Mr.,  38. 
Shepherd,  Betsy,  144. 
Shepherd,  Thomas,  160. 
Shepherd,  Mrs.  Thomas,    160,  161, 

162. 
Shepherd,  Thomas,  Jr.,  161. 
Short,  Dr.,  36. 
Simkins,  Aliss,  157. 
Simkins,  Thomas,  157. 
Simkins,  Mrs.  Thomas,  157. 
Simpson,  Mr.,  149. 
Sinclair,  Air.,  367. 
Skye,  Lord  of,  9,  373,  374. 
Slade,  Charles,  163,  352. 
Sloo,  .]/;•.,  50,  51,  56,  63,  66. 
Smith,  G.  M.,  312. 
Smith,  Isaac,  158. 
Smith,  John,  136. 
Smith,  Matthew,  329. 
Smith,  Moses,  136. 
Smith,  William,  312. 
Sorgenfrey,  J\Ir.,  265. 
Spence,  W.,  312. 

Spring,  Archibald,  155,  165,  332,  374. 
Spring,  Henry,  155. 
Spring,  John,  15  s. 
Spring,  Sydney,  155. 
Spring,  Mrs.  Sydney  (Pritchard),  155. 
Spring,  Thomas,  155. 
Spring,  Mrs.  Thomas,  155. 
Stanhope,  Mr.,  158,  317. 
Stevenson,  Andrew,  44. 
Stevenson,  John  White,  44. 


Stevenson,  Sarah  (Coles),  44. 

Stewart,  Alexander,  136,  321,  330. 

Stewart,  Margaret,  312. 

Stone,  Ann,  312. 

Stone,  Captain,  loi. 

Stout,  Ehhu,  56. 

Swaine,  Mr.,  362,  369,  370. 

Swale,  Thomas,  159. 


Tessier,  Alexander  Henri,  369,  370. 

Tewks,  William,  144,  145. 

Thiers,  Air.,  367. 

Thomas,  Jesse  P.,  205,  291. 

Thompson,  F.  B.,  321,  332. 

Thompson,  Jeff,  10. 

Thompson,  Samuel,  318,  320,  321, 

32S,  332. 
Thompson,  Samuel,  Jr.,  321. 
Thread,  James,  158. 
Thread,  Robert,  158. 
Tribe,  John,  147. 
Trimmer,  Charles,   96,   99,  108,  124, 

129,  156. 
Trotter,  Mr.,  36. 
Truscott,  William,  Sr.,  154,  163. 
Truscott,  William,  Jr.,  163. 


Vaughan,  John,  32. 
Vernet,  Madam,  369. 
Victoria,  Queen,  148. 
Voltaire,  M.,  324. 

W. 

Waite,  Isaac,  91. 
Walford,  Robert,  97. 
Walker,  Brian,  143. 
Warder,  Jeremiah,  32,  272. 
Washburne,  E.  B.,  11,  205. 
Warrington,  Oswald,    157,  339,  374. 
Warrington,  Mrs.  Oswald,  157,  374. 
Waterhouse,  Benjamin,  361. 
Wattles,  James  O.,  158-9,  330. 
Weaver,  Elias,  137. 
Webb,  Edwin  B.,  142,  290-1,  292. 
Welby,  Adlard,  157,  318. 
Wellington,  Duke  of,  162. 
Welshman,  Dr.,  155,  332. 
Whitbread,  Mr.,  363,  370. 
White,  Leonard,  142. 
White,  Mr.,  loi,  102,  122. 
Whitehouse,  Bishop,  303. 
Whitney,  Eli,  273. 
Wieden,  Raphael,  198. 


402 


INDEX   OF    PERSONS. 


Wiley,  C,  &  Co.  (firm),  194. 
Wilkinson,  William,  374. 
William  the  Conqueror,  149. 
Williams,  Mr.,  64,  65.  190. 
Wilson,  William,    141-2,  252,  290, 

294-5- 
Wister,  Dr.,  32. 
Wood,  Mrs.  Betsy  (Shepherd),  144. 


Wood,  Mrs.  (Carter),  162. 

Wood,  John,  loi,  102,  134,  144,  189. 

Wood,  Mrs.  John  (Ellis),  144,  162. 

Wood,  Joseph,  144. 

Wood,  William,  144. 

Woodham,  George,  146. 

"  W.  K.,"  219,  221,  240,  241,  242. 


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